Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1902 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 1902
55 To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to improve the
66 detection, prevention, and treatment of mental health issues among public
77 safety officers, and for other purposes.
88 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
99 MARCH6, 2025
1010 Mr. B
1111 ERA(for himself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. MRVAN, Ms. NORTON, Ms.
1212 D
1313 EANof Pennsylvania, Ms. WASSERMANSCHULTZ, Ms. CHU, Mr. HARD-
1414 ERof California, Mr. POCAN, Mrs. WATSONCOLEMAN, Mr. MAGAZINER,
1515 Mr. V
1616 ANDREW, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. KENNEDYof New
1717 York, Mr. C
1818 ASTEN, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. BACON, Mr. LATIMER, Ms. TITUS,
1919 Mr. S
2020 MITHof Washington, Mr. THANEDAR, Ms. BROWN, and Mr.
2121 C
2222 ARBAJAL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
2323 mittee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on
2424 Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be subsequently deter-
2525 mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
2626 as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
2727 A BILL
2828 To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services
2929 to improve the detection, prevention, and treatment of
3030 mental health issues among public safety officers, and
3131 for other purposes.
3232 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
3333 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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3636 •HR 1902 IH
3737 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
3838 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Helping Emergency 2
3939 Responders Overcome Act’’ or the ‘‘HERO Act’’. 3
4040 SEC. 2. DATA SYSTEM TO CAPTURE NATIONAL PUBLIC 4
4141 SAFETY OFFICER SUICIDE INCIDENCE. 5
4242 The Public Health Service Act is amended by insert-6
4343 ing after section 317V of such Act (42 U.S.C. 247b–24) 7
4444 the following: 8
4545 ‘‘SEC. 317W. DATA SYSTEM TO CAPTURE NATIONAL PUBLIC 9
4646 SAFETY OFFICER SUICIDE INCIDENCE. 10
4747 ‘‘(a) I
4848 NGENERAL.—The Secretary, in coordination 11
4949 with the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and 12
5050 Prevention and other agencies as the Secretary determines 13
5151 appropriate, may— 14
5252 ‘‘(1) develop and maintain a data system, to be 15
5353 known as the Public Safety Officer Suicide Report-16
5454 ing System, for the purposes of— 17
5555 ‘‘(A) collecting data on the suicide inci-18
5656 dence among public safety officers; and 19
5757 ‘‘(B) facilitating the study of successful 20
5858 interventions to reduce suicide among public 21
5959 safety officers; and 22
6060 ‘‘(2) integrate such system into the National 23
6161 Violent Death Reporting System, so long as the Sec-24
6262 retary determines such integration to be consistent 25
6363 with the purposes described in paragraph (1). 26
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6666 •HR 1902 IH
6767 ‘‘(b) DATACOLLECTION.—In collecting data for the 1
6868 Public Safety Officer Suicide Reporting System, the Sec-2
6969 retary shall, at a minimum, collect the following informa-3
7070 tion: 4
7171 ‘‘(1) The total number of suicides in the United 5
7272 States among all public safety officers in a given cal-6
7373 endar year. 7
7474 ‘‘(2) Suicide rates for public safety officers in 8
7575 a given calendar year, disaggregated by— 9
7676 ‘‘(A) age and gender of the public safety 10
7777 officer; 11
7878 ‘‘(B) State; 12
7979 ‘‘(C) occupation; including both the indi-13
8080 vidual’s role in their public safety agency and 14
8181 their primary occupation in the case of volun-15
8282 teer public safety officers; 16
8383 ‘‘(D) where available, the status of the 17
8484 public safety officer as volunteer, paid-on-call, 18
8585 or career; and 19
8686 ‘‘(E) status of the public safety officer as 20
8787 active or retired. 21
8888 ‘‘(c) C
8989 ONSULTATION DURINGDEVELOPMENT.—In 22
9090 developing the Public Safety Officer Suicide Reporting 23
9191 System, the Secretary shall consult with non-Federal ex-24
9292 perts to determine the best means to collect data regard-25
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9595 •HR 1902 IH
9696 ing suicide incidence in a safe, sensitive, anonymous, and 1
9797 effective manner. Such non-Federal experts shall include, 2
9898 as appropriate, the following: 3
9999 ‘‘(1) Public health experts with experience in 4
100100 developing and maintaining suicide registries. 5
101101 ‘‘(2) Organizations that track suicide among 6
102102 public safety officers. 7
103103 ‘‘(3) Mental health experts with experience in 8
104104 studying suicide and other profession-related trau-9
105105 matic stress. 10
106106 ‘‘(4) Clinicians with experience in diagnosing 11
107107 and treating mental health issues. 12
108108 ‘‘(5) Active and retired volunteer, paid-on-call, 13
109109 and career public safety officers. 14
110110 ‘‘(6) Relevant national police, and fire and 15
111111 emergency medical services, organizations. 16
112112 ‘‘(d) D
113113 ATAPRIVACY ANDSECURITY.—In developing 17
114114 and maintaining the Public Safety Officer Suicide Report-18
115115 ing System, the Secretary shall ensure that all applicable 19
116116 Federal privacy and security protections are followed to 20
117117 ensure that— 21
118118 ‘‘(1) the confidentiality and anonymity of sui-22
119119 cide victims and their families are protected, includ-23
120120 ing so as to ensure that data cannot be used to deny 24
121121 benefits; and 25
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124124 •HR 1902 IH
125125 ‘‘(2) data is sufficiently secure to prevent unau-1
126126 thorized access. 2
127127 ‘‘(e) R
128128 EPORTING.— 3
129129 ‘‘(1) A
130130 NNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 2 years 4
131131 after the date of enactment of the Helping Emer-5
132132 gency Responders Overcome Act, and biannually 6
133133 thereafter, the Secretary shall submit a report to the 7
134134 Congress on the suicide incidence among public safe-8
135135 ty officers. Each such report shall— 9
136136 ‘‘(A) include the number and rate of such 10
137137 suicide incidence, disaggregated by age, gender, 11
138138 and State of employment; 12
139139 ‘‘(B) identify characteristics and contrib-13
140140 uting circumstances for suicide among public 14
141141 safety officers; 15
142142 ‘‘(C) disaggregate rates of suicide by— 16
143143 ‘‘(i) occupation; 17
144144 ‘‘(ii) status as volunteer, paid-on-call, 18
145145 or career; and 19
146146 ‘‘(iii) status as active or retired; 20
147147 ‘‘(D) include recommendations for further 21
148148 study regarding the suicide incidence among 22
149149 public safety officers; 23
150150 ‘‘(E) specify in detail, if found, any obsta-24
151151 cles in collecting suicide rates for volunteers 25
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154154 •HR 1902 IH
155155 and include recommended improvements to 1
156156 overcome such obstacles; 2
157157 ‘‘(F) identify options for interventions to 3
158158 reduce suicide among public safety officers; and 4
159159 ‘‘(G) describe procedures to ensure the 5
160160 confidentiality and anonymity of suicide victims 6
161161 and their families, as described in subsection 7
162162 (d)(1). 8
163163 ‘‘(2) P
164164 UBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Upon the submis-9
165165 sion of each report to the Congress under paragraph 10
166166 (1), the Secretary shall make the full report publicly 11
167167 available on the website of the Centers for Disease 12
168168 Control and Prevention. 13
169169 ‘‘(f) D
170170 EFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘public 14
171171 safety officer’ means— 15
172172 ‘‘(1) a public safety officer, as defined in sec-16
173173 tion 1204 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 17
174174 Streets Act of 1968; or 18
175175 ‘‘(2) a public safety telecommunicator, as de-19
176176 scribed in detailed occupation 43–5031 in the Stand-20
177177 ard Occupational Classification Manual of the Office 21
178178 of Management and Budget (2018). 22
179179 ‘‘(g) P
180180 ROHIBITEDUSE OFINFORMATION.—Notwith-23
181181 standing any other provision of law, if an individual is 24
182182 identified as deceased based on information contained in 25
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185185 •HR 1902 IH
186186 the Public Safety Officer Suicide Reporting System, such 1
187187 information may not be used to deny or rescind life insur-2
188188 ance payments or other benefits to a survivor of the de-3
189189 ceased individual.’’. 4
190190 SEC. 3. PEER-SUPPORT BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND 5
191191 WELLNESS PROGRAMS WITHIN FIRE DEPART-6
192192 MENTS AND EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE 7
193193 AGENCIES. 8
194194 (a) I
195195 NGENERAL.—Part B of title III of the Public 9
196196 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 243 et seq.) is amended 10
197197 by adding at the end the following: 11
198198 ‘‘SEC. 320C. PEER-SUPPORT BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND 12
199199 WELLNESS PROGRAMS WITHIN FIRE DEPART-13
200200 MENTS AND EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE 14
201201 AGENCIES. 15
202202 ‘‘(a) I
203203 NGENERAL.—The Secretary may award grants 16
204204 to eligible entities for the purpose of establishing or en-17
205205 hancing peer-support behavioral health and wellness pro-18
206206 grams within fire departments and emergency medical 19
207207 services agencies. 20
208208 ‘‘(b) P
209209 ROGRAMDESCRIPTION.—A peer-support be-21
210210 havioral health and wellness program funded under this 22
211211 section shall— 23
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214214 •HR 1902 IH
215215 ‘‘(1) use career and volunteer members of fire 1
216216 departments or emergency medical services agencies 2
217217 to serve as peer counselors; 3
218218 ‘‘(2) provide training to members of career, vol-4
219219 unteer, and combination fire departments or emer-5
220220 gency medical service agencies to serve as such peer 6
221221 counselors; 7
222222 ‘‘(3) purchase materials to be used exclusively 8
223223 to provide such training; and 9
224224 ‘‘(4) disseminate such information and mate-10
225225 rials as are necessary to conduct the program. 11
226226 ‘‘(c) D
227227 EFINITION.—In this section: 12
228228 ‘‘(1) The term ‘eligible entity’ means a non-13
229229 profit organization with expertise and experience 14
230230 with respect to the health and life safety of members 15
231231 of fire and emergency medical services agencies. 16
232232 ‘‘(2) The term ‘member’— 17
233233 ‘‘(A) with respect to an emergency medical 18
234234 services agency, means an employee, regardless 19
235235 of rank or whether the employee receives com-20
236236 pensation (as defined in section 1204(7) of the 21
237237 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 22
238238 1968); and 23
239239 ‘‘(B) with respect to a fire department, 24
240240 means any employee, regardless of rank or 25
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244244 whether the employee receives compensation, of 1
245245 a Federal, State, Tribal, or local fire depart-2
246246 ment who is responsible for responding to calls 3
247247 for emergency service.’’. 4
248248 (b) T
249249 ECHNICALCORRECTION.—Effective as if in-5
250250 cluded in the enactment of the Children’s Health Act of 6
251251 2000 (Public Law 106–310), the amendment instruction 7
252252 in section 1603 of such Act is amended by striking ‘‘Part 8
253253 B of the Public Health Service Act’’ and inserting ‘‘Part 9
254254 B of title III of the Public Health Service Act’’. 10
255255 SEC. 4. HEALTH CARE PROVIDER BEHAVIORAL HEALTH 11
256256 AND WELLNESS PROGRAMS. 12
257257 Part B of title III of the Public Health Service Act 13
258258 (42 U.S.C. 243 et seq.), as amended by section 3, is fur-14
259259 ther amended by adding at the end the following: 15
260260 ‘‘SEC. 320D. HEALTH CARE PROVIDER BEHAVIORAL 16
261261 HEALTH AND WELLNESS PROGRAMS. 17
262262 ‘‘(a) I
263263 NGENERAL.—The Secretary may award grants 18
264264 to eligible entities for the purpose of establishing or en-19
265265 hancing behavioral health and wellness programs for 20
266266 health care providers. 21
267267 ‘‘(b) P
268268 ROGRAMDESCRIPTION.—A behavioral health 22
269269 and wellness program funded under this section shall— 23
270270 ‘‘(1) provide confidential support services for 24
271271 health care providers to help handle stressful or 25
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274274 •HR 1902 IH
275275 traumatic patient-related events, including coun-1
276276 seling services and wellness seminars; 2
277277 ‘‘(2) provide training to health care providers to 3
278278 serve as peer counselors to other health care pro-4
279279 viders; 5
280280 ‘‘(3) purchase materials to be used exclusively 6
281281 to provide such training; and 7
282282 ‘‘(4) disseminate such information and mate-8
283283 rials as are necessary to conduct such training and 9
284284 provide such peer counseling. 10
285285 ‘‘(c) D
286286 EFINITIONS.—In this section, the term ‘eligible 11
287287 entity’ means a hospital, including a critical access hos-12
288288 pital (as defined in section 1861(mm)(1) of the Social Se-13
289289 curity Act) or a disproportionate share hospital (as defined 14
290290 in section 1923(a)(1)(A) of such Act), a Federally-quali-15
291291 fied health center (as defined in section 1905(1)(2)(B) of 16
292292 such Act), or any other health care facility.’’. 17
293293 SEC. 5. DEVELOPMENT OF RESOURCES FOR EDUCATING 18
294294 MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS ABOUT 19
295295 TREATING FIRE FIGHTERS AND EMERGENCY 20
296296 MEDICAL SERVICES PERSONNEL. 21
297297 (a) I
298298 NGENERAL.—The Administrator of the United 22
299299 States Fire Administration, in consultation with the Sec-23
300300 retary of Health and Human Services, shall develop and 24
301301 make publicly available resources that may be used by the 25
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304304 •HR 1902 IH
305305 Federal Government and other entities to educate mental 1
306306 health professionals about— 2
307307 (1) the culture of Federal, State, Tribal, and 3
308308 local career, volunteer, and combination fire depart-4
309309 ments and emergency medical services agencies; 5
310310 (2) the different stressors experienced by fire-6
311311 fighters and emergency medical services personnel, 7
312312 supervisory firefighters and emergency medical serv-8
313313 ices personnel, and chief officers of fire departments 9
314314 and emergency medical services agencies; 10
315315 (3) challenges encountered by retired fire-11
316316 fighters and emergency medical services personnel; 12
317317 and 13
318318 (4) evidence-based therapies for mental health 14
319319 issues common to firefighters and emergency med-15
320320 ical services personnel within such departments and 16
321321 agencies. 17
322322 (b) C
323323 ONSULTATION.—In developing resources under 18
324324 subsection (a), the Administrator of the United States 19
325325 Fire Administration and the Secretary of Health and 20
326326 Human Services shall consult with national fire and emer-21
327327 gency medical services organizations. 22
328328 (c) D
329329 EFINITIONS.—In this section: 23
330330 (1) C
331331 HIEF OFFICER.—The term ‘‘chief officer’’ 24
332332 means any individual who is responsible for the over-25
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335335 •HR 1902 IH
336336 all operation of a fire department or an emergency 1
337337 medical services agency, irrespective of whether such 2
338338 individual also serves as a firefighter or emergency 3
339339 medical services personnel. 4
340340 (2) E
341341 MERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES PER -5
342342 SONNEL.—The term ‘‘emergency medical services 6
343343 personnel’’ means any employee, regardless of rank 7
344344 or whether the employee receives compensation, as 8
345345 defined in section 1204(7) of the Omnibus Crime 9
346346 Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10
347347 10284(7)). 11
348348 (3) F
349349 IREFIGHTER.—The term ‘‘firefighter’’ 12
350350 means any employee, regardless of rank or whether 13
351351 the employee receives compensation, of a Federal, 14
352352 State, Tribal, or local fire department who is respon-15
353353 sible for responding to calls for emergency service. 16
354354 SEC. 6. BEST PRACTICES AND OTHER RESOURCES FOR AD-17
355355 DRESSING POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DIS-18
356356 ORDER IN PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICERS. 19
357357 (a) D
358358 EVELOPMENT; UPDATES.—The Secretary of 20
359359 Health and Human Services shall— 21
360360 (1) develop and assemble evidence-based best 22
361361 practices and other resources to identify, prevent, 23
362362 and treat posttraumatic stress disorder and co-oc-24
363363 curring disorders in public safety officers; and 25
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366366 •HR 1902 IH
367367 (2) reassess and update, as the Secretary deter-1
368368 mines necessary, such best practices and resources, 2
369369 including based upon the options for interventions to 3
370370 reduce suicide among public safety officers identified 4
371371 in the annual reports required by section 5
372372 317W(e)(1)(F) of the Public Health Service Act, as 6
373373 added by section 2 of this Act. 7
374374 (b) C
375375 ONSULTATION.—In developing, assembling, and 8
376376 updating the best practices and resources under sub-9
377377 section (a), the Secretary of Health and Human Services 10
378378 shall consult with, at a minimum, the following: 11
379379 (1) Public health experts. 12
380380 (2) Mental health experts with experience in 13
381381 studying suicide and other profession-related trau-14
382382 matic stress. 15
383383 (3) Clinicians with experience in diagnosing and 16
384384 treating mental health issues. 17
385385 (4) Relevant national police, fire, and emer-18
386386 gency medical services organizations. 19
387387 (c) A
388388 VAILABILITY.—The Secretary of Health and 20
389389 Human Services shall make the best practices and re-21
390390 sources under subsection (a) available to Federal, State, 22
391391 and local fire, law enforcement, and emergency medical 23
392392 services agencies. 24
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396396 (d) FEDERALTRAINING ANDDEVELOPMENT PRO-1
397397 GRAMS.—The Secretary of Health and Human Services 2
398398 shall work with Federal departments and agencies, includ-3
399399 ing the United States Fire Administration, to incorporate 4
400400 education and training on the best practices and resources 5
401401 under subsection (a) into Federal training and develop-6
402402 ment programs for public safety officers. 7
403403 (e) D
404404 EFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘public 8
405405 safety officer’’ means— 9
406406 (1) a public safety officer, as defined in section 10
407407 1204 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 11
408408 Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10284); or 12
409409 (2) a public safety telecommunicator, as de-13
410410 scribed in detailed occupation 43–5031 in the Stand-14
411411 ard Occupational Classification Manual of the Office 15
412412 of Management and Budget (2018). 16
413413 Æ
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