Mental Health and Substance Abuse Support During COVID–19 Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7893 To amend title V of the Public Health Service Act to provide for the establish- ment of a COVID–19 Mental Health and Substance Abuse Response Grant Program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 31, 2020 Mr. STEIL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend title V of the Public Health Service Act to provide for the establishment of a COVID–19 Mental Health and Substance Abuse Response Grant Program, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mental Health and 4 Substance Abuse Support During COVID–19 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Aug 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7893.IH H7893 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7893 IH SEC. 2. COVID–19 MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE 1 RESPONSE GRANT PROGRAM. 2 Subpart 3 of part B of title V of the Public Health 3 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb–31) is amended by adding 4 at the end the following: 5 ‘‘SEC. 520N. COVID–19 MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE 6 ABUSE RESPONSE GRANT PROGRAM. 7 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall, in co- 8 ordination with the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health 9 and Substance Use, establish and carry out a program to 10 award grants to States (as defined in section 524) to as- 11 sist States in addressing the increased costs to States due 12 to an increase in mental health challenges and substance 13 abuse in such States as a result of, or co-occurring with, 14 the COVID–19 pandemic, to be known as the ‘COVID– 15 19 Mental Health and Substance Abuse Response Grant 16 Program’ (referred to in this section as the ‘Program’). 17 ‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—A State may use funds re- 18 ceived through the grant to support one or more of the 19 following activities, which may be conducted in coordina- 20 tion or partnership with local governments or community 21 organizations: 22 ‘‘(1) Enhanced public education to improve 23 community awareness, with respect to mental health 24 or substance abuse, including for children and youth. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Aug 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7893.IH H7893 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7893 IH ‘‘(2) Identification of, and outreach to, individ- 1 uals at risk of experiencing a mental health and sub- 2 stance abuse challenge, and referral of such individ- 3 uals to appropriate treatment, recover, or other re- 4 sources in the community. 5 ‘‘(3) Direct services to adults and children to 6 prevent or treat a mental health or substance abuse 7 problem. 8 ‘‘(4) Community and peer support programs, 9 including programs for veterans and underserved 10 communities. 11 ‘‘(5) Development of partnerships with entities 12 such as local healthcare providers, substance abuse 13 treatment organizations, schools, child welfare agen- 14 cies, social services organizations, mental health 15 treatment organizations, police departments, busi- 16 nesses, religious institutions, in order to coordinate 17 and expand resources available to addicted or at-risk 18 individuals and their family members. 19 ‘‘(6) Mental health and substance abuse train- 20 ing for relevant healthcare workforce and community 21 members. 22 ‘‘(7) Upgrading technology to support mental 23 health and substance abuse services through tele- 24 health. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Aug 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7893.IH H7893 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7893 IH ‘‘(8) Follow-up services and outpatient support. 1 ‘‘(9) Support programs for front line COVID– 2 19 health care workers. 3 ‘‘(10) 24/7 crisis call centers. 4 ‘‘(11) Grants to local governmental entities 5 within such State to offset the costs referred to in 6 subsection (a). 7 ‘‘(c) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall, not later 8 than 30 days after the date of enactment of this section, 9 issue a rule to establish, carry out, and administer the 10 Program. 11 ‘‘(d) FUNDING.— 12 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 13 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 14 this section $1,000,000,000 for each of fiscal years 15 2020 through 2022. 16 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION.—Of the amounts made 17 available under paragraph (1) for a fiscal year, each 18 State shall be allocated an amount based on the per- 19 centage constituted by the ratio of an amount equal 20 to the population of the State over an amount equal 21 to the total population of the States, as indicated by 22 the data collected by the Bureau of the Census for 23 2010.’’. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Aug 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7893.IH H7893 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS