Behavioral Intervention Guidelines Act of 2020

IIB 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 3539 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 30 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 29), 2020 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions AN ACT To amend the Public Health Service Act to direct the Sec- retary of Health and Human Services to develop best practices for the establishment and use of behavioral intervention teams at schools, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 Oct 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3539.RFS H3539 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 HR 3539 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Behavioral Interven- 2 tion Guidelines Act of 2020’’. 3 SEC. 2. BEST PRACTICES FOR BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION 4 TEAMS. 5 The Public Health Service Act is amended by insert- 6 ing after section 520G of such Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb–38) 7 the following new section: 8 ‘‘SEC. 520H. BEST PRACTICES FOR BEHAVIORAL INTERVEN- 9 TION TEAMS. 10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 11 the Assistant Secretary, shall develop and periodically up- 12 date— 13 ‘‘(1) best practices to assist elementary schools, 14 secondary schools, and institutions of higher edu- 15 cation in establishing and using behavioral interven- 16 tion teams; and 17 ‘‘(2) a list of evidence-based threat assessment 18 training providers to assist personnel in elementary 19 schools, secondary schools, and institutions of higher 20 education in implementing such best practices, in- 21 cluding with respect to training behavioral interven- 22 tion teams. 23 ‘‘(b) ELEMENTS.—The best practices under sub- 24 section (a)(1) shall include guidance on the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 Oct 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3539.RFS H3539 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 HR 3539 RFS ‘‘(1) How behavioral intervention teams can op- 1 erate effectively from an evidence-based, objective 2 perspective while protecting the constitutional and 3 civil rights of individuals, including any individual of 4 concern. 5 ‘‘(2) The use of behavioral intervention teams 6 to identify individuals of concern, implement inter- 7 ventions, and manage risk through the framework of 8 the school’s or institution’s rules or code of conduct, 9 as applicable. 10 ‘‘(3) How behavioral intervention teams can, 11 when assessing an individual of concern— 12 ‘‘(A) seek training on evidence-based, 13 threat-assessment rubrics; 14 ‘‘(B) ensure that such teams— 15 ‘‘(i) have adequately trained, diverse 16 stakeholders with varied expertise; and 17 ‘‘(ii) use cross validation by a wide- 18 range of individual perspectives on the 19 team; and 20 ‘‘(C) use violence risk assessment. 21 ‘‘(4) How behavioral intervention teams can 22 avoid— 23 ‘‘(A) attempting to predict future behavior 24 by the concept of pre-crime; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 Oct 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3539.RFS H3539 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 HR 3539 RFS ‘‘(B) inappropriately using a mental health 1 assessment; 2 ‘‘(C) inappropriately limiting or restricting 3 law enforcement’s jurisdiction over criminal 4 matters; 5 ‘‘(D) attempting to substitute the behav- 6 ioral intervention process in place of a criminal 7 process, or impede a criminal process, when an 8 individual of concern’s behavior has potential 9 criminal implications; 10 ‘‘(E) endangering an individual’s privacy 11 by failing to ensure that all applicable Federal 12 and State privacy laws are fully complied with; 13 or 14 ‘‘(F) creating school-to-prison pipelines. 15 ‘‘(c) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out subsection 16 (a)(1), the Secretary shall consult with— 17 ‘‘(1) the Secretary of Education; 18 ‘‘(2) the Director of the National Threat As- 19 sessment Center of the Department of Homeland 20 Security; 21 ‘‘(3) the Attorney General of the United States; 22 and 23 ‘‘(4) as appropriate, relevant stakeholders in- 24 cluding— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 Oct 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3539.RFS H3539 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 HR 3539 RFS ‘‘(A) teachers and other educators, prin- 1 cipals, school administrators, school board 2 members, school psychologists, mental health 3 professionals, and parents of elementary school 4 and secondary school students; 5 ‘‘(B) local law enforcement agencies and 6 campus law enforcement administrators; 7 ‘‘(C) mental health mobile crisis providers; 8 ‘‘(D) child and adolescent psychiatrists; 9 and 10 ‘‘(E) other education and mental health 11 professionals. 12 ‘‘(d) PUBLICATION.—Not later than 2 years after the 13 date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall pub- 14 lish the best practices under subsection (a)(1) and the list 15 under subsection (a)(2) on a publicly accessible website 16 of the Department of Health and Human Services. 17 ‘‘(e) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall 18 provide technical assistance to institutions of higher edu- 19 cation, elementary schools, and secondary schools to assist 20 such institutions and schools in implementing the best 21 practices under subsection (a). 22 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 23 ‘‘(1) The term ‘behavioral intervention team’ 24 means a team of qualified individuals who— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 Oct 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3539.RFS H3539 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 HR 3539 RFS ‘‘(A) are responsible for identifying and as- 1 sessing individuals of concern; and 2 ‘‘(B) develop and facilitate implementation 3 of evidence-based interventions to mitigate the 4 threat of harm to self or others posed by indi- 5 viduals of concern and address the mental and 6 behavioral health needs of individuals of con- 7 cern to reduce such threat. 8 ‘‘(2) The terms ‘elementary school’, ‘parent’, 9 and ‘secondary school’ have the meanings given to 10 such terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and 11 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 12 ‘‘(3) The term ‘individual of concern’ means an 13 individual whose behavior indicates a potential 14 threat to self or others. 15 ‘‘(4) The term ‘institution of higher education’ 16 has the meaning given to such term in section 102 17 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 18 1002). 19 ‘‘(5) The term ‘mental health assessment’ 20 means an evaluation, primarily focused on diagnosis, 21 determining the need for involuntary commitment, 22 medication management, and on-going treatment 23 recommendations. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 Oct 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3539.RFS H3539 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 HR 3539 RFS ‘‘(6) The term ‘pre-crime’ means law-enforce- 1 ment efforts and strategies to deter crime by pre- 2 dicting when and where criminal activity will occur. 3 ‘‘(7) The term ‘violence risk assessment’ refers 4 to a broad determination of the potential risk of vio- 5 lence based on evidence-based literature.’’. 6 Passed the House of Representatives September 29, 2020. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 Oct 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3539.RFS H3539 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS