| 1 | 1 | | II |
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| 2 | 2 | | 118THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 456 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend title 10, United States Code, to authorize non-medical counseling |
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| 6 | 6 | | services, provided by certain mental health professionals, to military families. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| 8 | 8 | | FEBRUARY15, 2023 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Ms. S |
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| 10 | 10 | | INEMA(for herself and Mr. SULLIVAN) introduced the following bill; |
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| 11 | 11 | | which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services |
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| 12 | 12 | | A BILL |
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| 13 | 13 | | To amend title 10, United States Code, to authorize non- |
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| 14 | 14 | | medical counseling services, provided by certain mental |
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| 15 | 15 | | health professionals, to military families. |
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| 16 | 16 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 17 | 17 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 18 | 18 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 19 | 19 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Comforting Our Mili-4 |
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| 20 | 20 | | tary Families through On-base or Remote Treatment Act’’ 5 |
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| 21 | 21 | | or the ‘‘COMFORT Act’’. 6 |
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| 22 | 22 | | SEC. 2. NON-MEDICAL COUNSELING SERVICES FOR MILI-7 |
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| 23 | 23 | | TARY FAMILIES. 8 |
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| 24 | 24 | | (a) N |
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| 25 | 25 | | ON-MEDICALCOUNSELINGSERVICES.—Not-9 |
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| 26 | 26 | | withstanding any other provision of law, a mental health 10 |
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| 27 | 27 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 Mar 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S456.IS S456 |
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| 28 | 28 | | kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 |
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| 29 | 29 | | •S 456 IS |
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| 30 | 30 | | professional described in subsection (b) may provide non- 1 |
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| 31 | 31 | | medical counseling services to military families at any lo-2 |
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| 32 | 32 | | cation in a State, the District of Columbia, or a territory 3 |
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| 33 | 33 | | or possession of the United States, without regard to 4 |
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| 34 | 34 | | where the provider or recipient of such services is located, 5 |
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| 35 | 35 | | if the provision of such services is within the scope of the 6 |
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| 36 | 36 | | authorized Federal duties of the provider. 7 |
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| 37 | 37 | | (b) C |
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| 38 | 38 | | OVEREDMENTALHEALTHPROFESSIONALS.— 8 |
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| 39 | 39 | | A mental health professional described in this subsection 9 |
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| 40 | 40 | | is a person who is— 10 |
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| 41 | 41 | | (1) a currently licensed or certified mental 11 |
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| 42 | 42 | | health care provider who holds an unrestricted li-12 |
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| 43 | 43 | | cense or certification that is— 13 |
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| 44 | 44 | | (A) issued by a State, the District of Co-14 |
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| 45 | 45 | | lumbia, or a territory or possession of the 15 |
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| 46 | 46 | | United States; and 16 |
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| 47 | 47 | | (B) recognized by the Secretary of De-17 |
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| 48 | 48 | | fense; 18 |
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| 49 | 49 | | (2) a member of the uniformed services, a civil-19 |
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| 50 | 50 | | ian employee of the Department of Defense, or a 20 |
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| 51 | 51 | | contractor designated by the Secretary; and 21 |
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| 52 | 52 | | (3) performing authorized duties for the De-22 |
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| 53 | 53 | | partment of Defense under a program or activity re-23 |
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| 54 | 54 | | ferred to in subsection (a). 24 |
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| 55 | 55 | | Æ |
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| 56 | 56 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 Mar 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S456.IS S456 |
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| 57 | 57 | | kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS |
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