[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 10280 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 10280
To provide for improvements in the implementation of the National
Suicide Prevention Lifeline, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 3, 2026
Ms. Matsui (for herself, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mrs. Trahan, Ms. Schrier, Mr.
Beyer, Ms. Barragan, Mr. Carter of Louisiana, Ms. Balint, Mr. Raskin,
Mr. Goldman of New York, Mr. Smith of Washington, Ms. Salinas, Ms.
McClellan, Mr. Moulton, Mrs. Dingell, and Mrs. Watson Coleman)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and
Means, Armed Services, Veterans' Affairs, Oversight and Government
Reform, and Education and Workforce, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for improvements in the implementation of the National
Suicide Prevention Lifeline, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``9-8-8
Implementation Act of 2026''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title.
TITLE I--SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
Sec. 101. Regional and local lifeline call center program.
Sec. 102. Mental Health Crisis Response Partnership Pilot Program.
Sec. 103. National suicide prevention media campaign.
TITLE II--HEALTH RESOURCES AND SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
Sec. 201. Health center capital grants.
Sec. 202. Expanding behavioral health workforce training programs.
TITLE III--BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CRISIS SERVICES EXPANSION
Sec. 301. Coverage of crisis response services.
Sec. 302. Incident reporting.
TITLE IV--MEDICAID AMENDMENTS
Sec. 401. Revisions to the State option to provide qualifying
community-based mobile crisis intervention
services and other services under State
plans under the Medicaid program.
Sec. 402. Revisions to the IMD exclusion under Medicaid.
TITLE I--SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
SEC. 101. REGIONAL AND LOCAL LIFELINE CALL CENTER PROGRAM.
Part B of title V of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb
et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 520E-4 (42 U.S.C. 290bb-
36d) the following:
``SEC. 520E-5. REGIONAL AND LOCAL LIFELINE CALL CENTER PROGRAM.
``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall award grants to new or
existing crisis call centers serving regional or local areas to--
``(1) purchase or upgrade call center technology;
``(2) provide for training of call center staff;
``(3) improve call center operations; and
``(4) provide for hiring of call center staff.
``(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be
appropriated to carry out this section $441,000,000 for fiscal year
2027, to remain available until expended.''.
SEC. 102. MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS RESPONSE PARTNERSHIP PILOT PROGRAM.
Section 520F(e) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb-
37(e)) is amended by striking ``section, $10,000,000 for each of fiscal
years 2025 through 2029'' and inserting the following: ``section--
``(1) $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 and 2026;
and
``(2) $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2027 through
2029''.
SEC. 103. NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION MEDIA CAMPAIGN.
(a) National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Program.--Section 520E-3
of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb-36c) is amended--
(1) in subsection (b)--
(A) by amending paragraph (4) to read as follows:
``(4) conducting the national suicide prevention media
campaign described in section 520E-5;'';
(B) by redesignating paragraph (6) as paragraph
(7); and
(C) by inserting after paragraph (5) the following:
``(6) improving awareness of the program, including through
targeted, age, and culturally appropriate outreach in schools
and to the general public more widely through advertisements in
highly trafficked areas or shared public spaces such as rail or
public transportation stations, on billboards, in stadiums, or
other such highly visible areas; and''; and
(2) by amending subsection (f) to read as follows:
``(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be
appropriated--
``(1) to carry out subsection (b)(4), $10,000,000 for each
of fiscal years 2026 through 2030; and
``(2) to carry out this section, except for subsection
(b)(4), $101,621,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through
2027.''.
(b) National Suicide Prevention Media Campaign.--The Public Health
Service Act is amended by inserting after section 520E-4 (42 U.S.C.
290bb-36d) the following:
``SEC. 520E-5. NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION MEDIA CAMPAIGN.
``(a) In General.--
``(1) National media campaign.--Not later than the date
that is 3 years after the date of the enactment of this
section, the Secretary, in consultation with the Assistant
Secretary and the Director of the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (referred to in this section as the `Director'),
shall conduct a national suicide prevention media campaign
(referred to in this section as the `national media campaign'),
for purposes of--
``(A) preventing suicide in the United States;
``(B) educating families, friends, and communities
on how to address suicide and suicidal thoughts,
including when to encourage individuals with suicidal
risk to seek help; and
``(C) increasing awareness of suicide prevention
resources of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the Administration (including the
suicide prevention hotline maintained under section
520E-3), any suicide prevention mobile application of
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the
Administration, and other support resources determined
appropriate by the Secretary.
``(2) Additional consultation.--In addition to consulting
with the Assistant Secretary and the Director under this
section, the Secretary shall consult with, as appropriate, the
administrator of the suicide prevention hotline maintained
under section 520E-3, State, local, Tribal, and territorial
health departments, primary health care providers, hospitals
with emergency departments, mental and behavioral health
services providers, crisis response services providers, first
responders, suicide prevention and mental health professionals,
patient advocacy groups, survivors of suicide attempts, and
representatives of television and social media platforms in
planning the national media campaign to be conducted under
paragraph (1).
``(b) Target Audiences.--
``(1) Tailoring advertisements and other communications.--
In conducting the national media campaign under subsection
(a)(1), the Secretary may tailor culturally competent
advertisements and other communications of the campaign across
all available media for a target audience (such as a particular
geographic location or demographic).
``(2) Targeting certain local areas.--The Secretary shall,
to the maximum extent practicable, use funds made available to
carry out this section for media that target certain local
areas or populations at disproportionate risk for suicide.
``(c) Use of Funds.--
``(1) Required uses.--
``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall, if
reasonably feasible with the funds made available to
carry out this section, carry out the following, with
respect to the national media campaign:
``(i) Testing and evaluation of
advertising.
``(ii) Evaluation of the effectiveness of
the national media campaign.
``(iii) Operational and management
expenses.
``(iv) The creation of an educational
toolkit for television and social media
platforms to use in discussing suicide and
raising awareness about how to prevent suicide.
``(B) Specific requirements.--
``(i) Testing and evaluation of
advertising.--In testing and evaluating
advertising under subparagraph (A)(i), the
Secretary shall test all advertisements after
use in the national media campaign to evaluate
the extent to which such advertisements have
been effective in carrying out the purposes of
the national media campaign.
``(ii) Evaluation of effectiveness of
national media campaign.--In evaluating the
effectiveness of the national media campaign
under subparagraph (A)(ii), the Secretary shall
take into account--
``(I) the number of unique calls
that are made to the suicide prevention
hotline maintained under section 520E-3
and assess whether there are any State
and regional variations with respect to
the capacity to answer such calls;
``(II) the number of unique
encounters with suicide prevention and
support resources of the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention and the
Administration and assess engagement
with such suicide prevention and
support resources;
``(III) whether the national media
campaign has contributed to increased
awareness that suicidal individuals
should be engaged, rather than ignored;
and
``(IV) such other measures of
evaluation as the Secretary determines
are appropriate.
``(2) Optional uses.--The Secretary may use funds made
available to carry out this section for the following, with
respect to the national media campaign:
``(A) Partnerships with professional and civic
groups, community-based organizations, including faith-
based organizations, and government or Tribal
organizations that the Secretary determines have
experience in suicide prevention, including the
Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
``(B) Entertainment industry outreach, interactive
outreach, media projects and activities, public
information, news media outreach, outreach through
television programs, and corporate sponsorship and
participation.
``(3) Prohibition.--None of the funds made available to
carry out this section may be obligated or expended for
partisan political purposes, or to express advocacy in support
of or to defeat any clearly identified candidate, clearly
identified ballot initiative, or clearly identified legislative
or regulatory proposal.
``(d) Report to Congress.--Not later than 18 months after the date
on which implementation of the national media campaign has begun, the
Secretary, in coordination with the Assistant Secretary and the
Director, shall, with respect to the first year of the national media
campaign, submit to Congress a report that describes--
``(1) the strategy of the national media campaign and
whether specific objectives of such campaign were accomplished,
including whether such campaign impacted the number of calls
made to lifeline crisis centers and the capacity of such
centers to manage such calls;
``(2) steps taken to ensure that the national media
campaign operates in an effective and efficient manner
consistent with the overall strategy and focus of the national
media campaign;
``(3) plans to purchase advertising time and space;
``(4) policies and practices implemented to ensure that
Federal funds are used responsibly to purchase advertising time
and space and eliminate the potential for waste, fraud, and
abuse; and
``(5) all contracts entered into with a corporation, a
partnership, or an individual working on behalf of the national
media campaign.''.
TITLE II--HEALTH RESOURCES AND SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
SEC. 201. HEALTH CENTER CAPITAL GRANTS.
Subpart 1 of part D of title III of the Public Health Service Act
(42 U.S.C. 254b et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``SEC. 330Q. HEALTH CENTER CAPITAL GRANTS.
``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall award grants to eligible
entities for capital projects.
``(b) Eligible Entity.--In this section, the term eligible entity
is an entity that is--
``(1) a health center funded under section 330, or in the
case of a Tribe or Tribal organization, eligible, to be awarded
without regard to the time limitation in subsection (e)(3) and
subsections (e)(6)(A)(iii), (e)(6)(B)(iii), and (r)(2)(B) of
such section; or
``(2) a crisis receiving and stabilization facility or
crisis call center that has a working relationship with one or
more local community mental health and substance use
organizations, community mental health centers, and certified
community behavioral health clinics, or other local mental
health and substance use care providers, including inpatient
and residential treatment settings.
``(c) Use of Funds.--Amounts made available to a recipient of a
grant or cooperative agreement pursuant to subsection (a) shall be used
for crisis response program facility alteration, renovation,
remodeling, expansion, new construction, and other capital improvement
costs, including the costs of amortizing the principal of, and paying
interest on, loans for such purposes.
``(d) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Crisis receiving and stabilization facility.--The
term `crisis receiving and stabilization facility' means a
freestanding, non-hospital facility that--
``(A) qualifies for licensure or certification as a
crisis receiving and stabilization facility, pursuant
to State law of the State in which such facility
furnishes crisis response services;
``(B) provides 23-hour observation and assessment
chairs or beds and 48-hour crisis stabilization
psychiatric beds inclusive of withdrawal management and
24-hour medical monitoring;
``(C) provides crisis response services 24 hours
per day, 7 days per week using a sliding scale of
payment, and neither rejects service nor limits
services on the basis of a patient's ability to pay,
place of residence, prior forensic engagement, acuity
of mental health or substance use condition,
intellectual or developmental disability, age or
related factors;
``(D) supports no-wrong-door admission capacity
available to law enforcement officers, emergency
medical personnel, and family members; and
``(E) maintains an average length-of-stay of less
than 150 hours.
``(2) Crisis response program facility.--The term `crisis
response program facility' means a facility used for the
purposes of mental health or substance use services that are
furnished to an individual, including children and adolescents,
experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis by--
``(A) a mobile crisis response team;
``(B) a crisis receiving and stabilization
facility;
``(C) a mental health or substance use urgent care
facility; or
``(D) other appropriate provider, as determined by
the Secretary.
``(3) Mental health and substance use urgent care
facility.--The term `mental health and substance use urgent
care facility' means an ambulatory facility in which
individuals experiencing a mental or behavioral health crisis
may receive crisis assessment services, crisis intervention
services, medication, and connection to other appropriate
services, without making an appointment prior to arriving at
the facility.
``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated to carry out this section $1,000,000,000, to remain
available until expended.''.
SEC. 202. EXPANDING BEHAVIORAL HEALTH WORKFORCE TRAINING PROGRAMS.
(a) National Health Service Corps.--Section 332 of the Public
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254e) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``(l) The Secretary shall collect and publish in the Federal
Register data comparing the availability and need of crisis response
services in health professional shortage areas and in areas within such
health professional shortage areas, including--
``(1) the number of crisis call centers, mobile crisis
response units, and crisis receiving and stabilization
facilities in such areas; and
``(2) the number of behavioral and mental health
professionals providing crisis management services or working
in crisis response settings, including the settings described
in paragraph (1).''.