I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 3267
To authorize the provision of non-medical counseling services to a member
of the Armed Forces, or a dependent of such member, by a mental
health professional, without regard to the location of the provider or
recipient of such services.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY11, 2023
Ms. S
LOTKIN(for herself and Mr. WITTMAN) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services
A BILL
To authorize the provision of non-medical counseling services
to a member of the Armed Forces, or a dependent of
such member, by a mental health professional, without
regard to the location of the provider or recipient of
such services.
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 ‘‘Comforting Our Mili-4
tary Families through On-base or Remote Treatment Act’’ 5
or the ‘‘COMFORT Act’’. 6
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SEC. 2. NON-MEDICAL COUNSELING SERVICES FOR MILI-1
TARY FAMILIES. 2
(a) N
ON-MEDICALCOUNSELINGSERVICES.—Not-3
withstanding any other provision of law, a mental health 4
professional described in subsection (b) may provide non- 5
medical counseling services to military families at any lo-6
cation in a State, the District of Columbia, or a territory 7
or possession of the United States, without regard to 8
where the provider or recipient of such services is located, 9
if the provision of such services is within the scope of the 10
authorized Federal duties of the provider. 11
(b) C
OVEREDMENTALHEALTHPROFESSIONALS.— 12
A mental health professional described in this subsection 13
is a person who is— 14
(1) a currently licensed or certified mental 15
health care provider who holds an unrestricted li-16
cense or certification that is— 17
(A) issued by a State, the District of Co-18
lumbia, or a territory or possession of the 19
United States; and 20
(B) recognized by the Secretary of De-21
fense; 22
(2) a member of the Armed Forces, a civilian 23
employee of the Department of Defense, or a con-24
tractor designated by the Secretary; and 25
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(3) performing authorized duties for the De-1
partment of Defense under a program or activity re-2
ferred to in subsection (a). 3
Æ
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