I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 498
To amend title V of the Public Health Service Act to secure the suicide
prevention lifeline from cybersecurity incidents, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY25, 2023
Mr. O
BERNOLTE(for himself and Mr. CA´RDENAS) 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 secure
the suicide prevention lifeline from cybersecurity inci-
dents, 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 ‘‘9–8–8 Lifeline Cyber-4
security Responsibility Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. PROTECTING SUICIDE PREVENTION LIFELINE 6
FROM CYBERSECURITY INCIDENTS. 7
(a) S
UICIDEPREVENTION LIFELINE.—Section 8
520E–3(b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 9
290bb–36c(b)) is amended— 10
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•HR 498 IH
(1) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 1
end; 2
(2) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at 3
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 4
(3) by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(6) coordinating with the Chief Information 6
Security Officer of the Department of Health and 7
Human Services to take such steps as may be nec-8
essary to ensure the program is protected from cy-9
bersecurity incidents and eliminates known cyberse-10
curity vulnerabilities.’’. 11
(b) R
EPORTING.—Section 520E–3 of the Public 12
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb–36c) is amended— 13
(1) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub-14
section (g); and 15
(2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol-16
lowing: 17
‘‘(f) C
YBERSECURITYREPORTING.— 18
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The program’s network ad-19
ministrator receiving Federal funding pursuant to 20
subsection (a) shall report to the Assistant Sec-21
retary, in a manner that protects personal privacy, 22
consistent with applicable Federal and State privacy 23
laws— 24
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•HR 498 IH
‘‘(A) any identified cybersecurity 1
vulnerabilities to the National Suicide Preven-2
tion Lifeline; and 3
‘‘(B) any identified cybersecurity incidents 4
or potential incidents to the National Suicide 5
Prevention Lifeline. 6
‘‘(2) N
OTIFICATION.—If an entity described in 7
paragraph (1) discovers a cybersecurity vulner-8
ability, incident, or potential incident, such entity 9
shall immediately report that discovery to the Assist-10
ant Secretary. 11
‘‘(3) C
LARIFICATION.—The cybersecurity inci-12
dent reporting requirements under this subsection 13
shall supplement, and not supplant, cybersecurity in-14
cident reporting requirements under other provisions 15
of applicable Federal law that are in effect on the 16
date of the enactment of the 9–8–8 Lifeline Cyberse-17
curity Responsibility Act.’’. 18
(c) S
TUDY.—Not later than 180 days after the date 19
of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of 20
the United States shall— 21
(1) conduct and complete a study that evaluates 22
cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities associated 23
with the 9–8–8 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline; 24
and 25
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•HR 498 IH
(2) submit a report of the findings of such 1
study to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of 2
the House of Representatives and the Committee on 3
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Sen-4
ate. 5
Æ
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