I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 3011
To establish a task force of the Department of Defense on mental health.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL28, 2023
Mr. K
ILMER(for himself, Mr. WITTMAN, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr.
R
ESCHENTHALER, Ms. NORTON, Mr. STEWART, Mr. RYAN, Mr. NICKEL,
Mr. K
ELLYof Mississippi, Ms. SHERRILL, Mr. TONKO, Ms. WILD, Mr.
W
OMACK, Mr. BISHOPof Georgia, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Ms. MCCOLLUM,
Mrs. M
CCLELLAN, Ms. TITUS, Mr. SCOTTof Virginia, and Mr. NOR-
CROSS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Armed Services
A BILL
To establish a task force of the Department of Defense
on mental health.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. TASK FORCE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DE-3
FENSE ON MENTAL HEALTH. 4
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Defense 5
shall establish a task force to examine matters relating 6
to the mental health of members of the Armed Forces. 7
(b) M
EMBERSHIP.— 8
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(1) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Secretary of De-1
fense shall appoint to the task force individuals who 2
have demonstrated expertise in the following areas: 3
(A) National mental health policy. 4
(B) Military personnel policy. 5
(C) Research in the field of mental health. 6
(D) Clinical care in mental health. 7
(E) Military chaplain or pastoral care. 8
(2) N
UMBER; COMPOSITION.—The Secretary 9
shall appoint not more than 15 individuals to the 10
task force in accordance with the following: 11
(A) DOD
APPOINTEES.—One half of the 12
appointees shall include— 13
(i) at least one member of each of the 14
Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and 15
the National Guard; 16
(ii) at least one surgeon general of an 17
Armed Force; and 18
(iii) at least one dependent of a mem-19
ber of the Armed Forces who has experi-20
ence working with military families. 21
(B) N
ON-DOD APPOINTEES.—One half of 22
the appointees shall be individuals who are not 23
members of the Armed Forces, civilian employ-24
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ees of the Department of Defense, or depend-1
ents of such members, including— 2
(i) an officer or employee of the De-3
partment of Veterans Affairs; and 4
(ii) an officer or employee of the Sub-5
stance Abuse and Mental Health Services 6
Administration of the Department of 7
Health and Human Services. 8
(C) D
EADLINE.—The Secretary of Defense 9
shall appoint all members not later than 90 10
days after the date of the enactment of this 11
Act. 12
(D) C
O-CHAIRS.—There shall be two co- 13
chairs of the task force, one of the whom shall 14
be designated by the Secretary at the time of 15
appointment from among the individuals ap-16
pointed under subparagraph (A). The other co- 17
chair shall be selected from among the members 18
appointed under subparagraph (B) by members 19
so appointed. 20
(c) A
SSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON MEN-21
TALHEALTHSERVICES.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 12 months 23
after the date on which all members of the task 24
force have been appointed, the task force shall sub-25
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mit to the Secretary a report containing an assess-1
ment of, and recommendations for improving, the ef-2
ficacy of mental health services provided to members 3
of the Armed Forces by the Department of Defense. 4
(2) U
TILIZATION OF OTHER EFFORTS .—In pre-5
paring the report, the task force shall take into con-6
sideration completed and ongoing efforts by the Sec-7
retary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Af-8
fairs to improve the efficacy of mental health care 9
provided to members of the Armed Forces. 10
(3) E
LEMENTS.—The assessment and rec-11
ommendations (including recommendations for legis-12
lative or administrative action) shall include meas-13
ures to improve the following: 14
(A) The awareness of the potential for 15
mental health conditions of members of the 16
Armed Forces. 17
(B) The access to, and efficacy of, existing 18
programs (include telehealth programs) in pri-19
mary care and mental health care to prevent, 20
identify, and treat mental health conditions of 21
members of the Armed Forces, including pro-22
grams for— 23
(i) forward-deployed troops; 24
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(ii) members of the reserve compo-1
nents; and 2
(iii) members assigned to remote or 3
austere duty locations. 4
(C) The access to adequate telehealth re-5
sources including for members described in sub-6
paragraph (B), including access to equipment, 7
bandwidth, and platforms used to deliver care. 8
(D) The assessment of disruptions to men-9
tal health care as a result of frequent changes 10
to TRICARE eligibility and coverage for mem-11
bers of the National Guard, as well as potential 12
benefits of more consistent care. 13
(E) Analysis of the potential effect on ac-14
cess and outcomes for members serving on ac-15
tive duty as a result of proposed cuts to mili-16
tary end strengths regarding members with 17
medical military occupational specialties. 18
(F) The access to and programs for family 19
members of members of the Armed Forces, in-20
cluding family members overseas. 21
(G) Access to, and quality of, private men-22
tal health care received by members through 23
TRICARE. 24
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(H) The reduction or elimination of bar-1
riers to care, including the stigma associated 2
with mental health conditions, by measures in-3
cluding enhanced confidentiality for members 4
who seek care for such conditions. 5
(I) The awareness of mental health serv-6
ices available to dependents of members. 7
(J) The adequacy of outreach, education, 8
and support programs on mental health matters 9
for families of members. 10
(K) The early identification and treatment 11
of mental health and substance abuse problems 12
through the use of internal mass media commu-13
nications (including radio, and television, social 14
media) and other education tools to change atti-15
tudes within the Armed Forces regarding men-16
tal health and substance abuse treatment. 17
(L) The transition from mental health care 18
furnished by the Secretary of Defense to such 19
care furnished by the Secretary of Veterans Af-20
fairs. 21
(M) The availability of long-term follow-up 22
and access to care for mental health conditions 23
for members of the Individual Ready Reserve 24
and the Selected Reserve and for discharged, 25
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separated, or retired members of the Armed 1
Forces. 2
(N) Collaboration between agencies of the 3
Department of Defense with responsibility for, 4
or jurisdiction over, the provision of mental 5
health services. 6
(O) Coordination between the Department 7
of Defense and civilian communities, including 8
State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments, 9
and local support organizations, with respect to 10
mental health services. 11
(P) Coordination between the Department 12
of Defense and relevant Federal stakeholders, 13
including the Substance Abuse and Mental 14
Health Administration, National Institutes of 15
Health, and the Centers for Disease Control. 16
(Q) The scope and efficacy of curricula 17
and training on mental health matters for com-18
manders in the Armed Forces. 19
(R) The efficiency and effectiveness of pre- 20
and post-deployment mental health screenings, 21
including mental health screenings for members 22
of the Armed Forces. 23
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(S) The effectiveness of mental health pro-1
grams provided in languages other than 2
English. 3
(T) Tracking the use of behavioral health 4
services and related outcomes, including wait 5
times, continuity of care, symptom resolution, 6
and maintenance of improvements resulting 7
from treatment. 8
(U) Other matters the task force deter-9
mines appropriate. 10
(d) A
DMINISTRATIVEMATTERS.— 11
(1) C
OMPENSATION.—Each member of the task 12
force who is a member of the Armed Forces or a ci-13
vilian officer or employee of the United States shall 14
serve without compensation (other than compensa-15
tion to which entitled as a member of the Armed 16
Forces or an officer or employee of the United 17
States, as the case may be). Other members of the 18
task force shall be treated for purposes of section 19
3161 of title 5, United States Code, as having been 20
appointed under subsection (b) of such section. 21
(2) O
VERSIGHT.—The Under Secretary of De-22
fense for Personnel and Readiness shall oversee the 23
activities of the task force. 24
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(3) ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT .—The Wash-1
ington Headquarters Services of the Department of 2
Defense shall provide the task force with personnel, 3
facilities, and other administrative support as nec-4
essary for the performance of the duties of the task 5
force. 6
(4) A
CCESS TO FACILITIES.—The Under Sec-7
retary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness shall, 8
in coordination with the Secretaries of the military 9
departments, ensure appropriate access by the task 10
force to military installations and facilities for pur-11
poses of the discharge of the duties of the task force. 12
(e) R
EPORT.— 13
(1) S
UBMISSION TO SECRETARY OF DE -14
FENSE.—The task force shall submit to the Sec-15
retary of Defense a report on its activities under this 16
section. The report shall include— 17
(A) a description of the activities of the 18
task force; 19
(B) the assessment and recommendations 20
required by subsection (c); and 21
(C) other matters that the task force de-22
termines appropriate. 23
(2) S
UBMISSION TO CONGRESS .—Not later than 24
90 days after receipt of the report under paragraph 25
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(1), the Secretary shall submit to the Committees on 1
Armed Services, and on Veterans’ Affairs, of the 2
Senate and the House of Representatives, a copy 3
such report. The Secretary may include in such sub-4
mission comments on the report the Secretary deter-5
mines appropriate. 6
(f) T
ERMINATION.—The task force shall terminate 7
90 days after the date on which the report of the task 8
force is submitted to Congress under subsection (e)(2). 9
(g) P
LAN OF THESECRETARY.—Not later than six 10
months after receipt of the report from the task force 11
under subsection (e), the Secretary of Defense shall de-12
velop a plan based on the recommendations of the task 13
force and submit the plan to the congressional defense 14
committees. 15
(h) R
EPORTS BY THESECRETARY.—For each of the 16
five years following the submission of the report from the 17
Department of Defense Task Force on Mental Health, the 18
Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional de-19
fense committees a report on the recommendations made 20
by the Department of Defense Task Force on Mental 21
Health with respect to the Determinations. Department 22
of Defense. Each such report shall include— 23
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(1) for each such recommendation, the deter-1
mination of the Secretary of Defense whether to im-2
plement the recommendation; 3
(2) in the case of a recommendation the Sec-4
retary intends to implement, the intended timeline 5
for implementation, a description of any additional 6
resources or authorities required for such implemen-7
tation, and the plan for such implementation; 8
(3) in the case of a recommendation the Sec-9
retary determines is not advisable or feasible, the 10
analysis and justification of the Secretary in making 11
that determination; and 12
(4) in the case of a recommendation the Sec-13
retary determines the Department is already imple-14
menting, the analysis and justification of the Sec-15
retary in making that determination. 16
(i) B
RIEFINGS BY THESECRETARY.—Not less than 17
once each of the five years following the submission of the 18
report, the Secretary of Defense shall provide to the con-19
gressional defense committees a briefing on— 20
(1) the progress of the Secretary in analyzing 21
and implementing the recommendations made by the 22
task force; 23
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(2) any programs, projects, or other activities of 1
the Department of Defense that are being carried 2
out to implement such recommendations; and 3
(3) the amount of funding provided for such 4
programs, projects, and activities. 5
Æ
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