I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2741
To address the behavioral health workforce shortages through support for
peer support specialists, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL8, 2025
Ms. S
ALINAS(for herself, Ms. DAVIDSof Kansas, Mrs. WATSONCOLEMAN,
Ms. B
ONAMICI, and Mr. DOGGETT) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition
to the Committee on Education and Workforce, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To address the behavioral health workforce shortages through
support for peer support specialists, 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 ‘‘Providing Empathetic 4
and Effective Recovery Support Act’’ or the ‘‘PEER Sup-5
port Act’’. 6
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SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF PEER SUPPORT SPECIALIST. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—In this Act, the term ‘‘peer sup-2
port specialist’’ means an individual— 3
(1)(A) who has lived experience of recovery 4
from a mental health condition or substance use dis-5
order and who specializes in supporting individuals 6
with mental health conditions or substance use dis-7
orders; or 8
(B) who has lived experience as a parent or 9
caregiver of an individual with a mental health con-10
dition or substance use disorder and who specializes 11
in supporting families navigating mental health or 12
substance use service systems; and 13
(2) who is certified as qualified to furnish peer 14
support services, as described in subsection (b), 15
under a process that is determined by the State in 16
which such individual furnishes such services or de-17
termined appropriate by the Secretary of Health and 18
Human Services. 19
(b) P
EERSUPPORTSERVICES.—The services de-20
scribed in this subsection shall be consistent with the Na-21
tional Practice Guidelines for Peer Supporters issued by 22
the National Association of Peer Supporters (or a suc-23
cessor publication) and inclusive of the Core Competencies 24
for Peer Workers in Behavioral Health Services of the 25
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Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administra-1
tion. 2
SEC. 3. RECOGNIZING THE PEER SUPPORT SPECIALIST 3
PROFESSION. 4
Not later than January 1, 2026, the Director of the 5
Office of Management and Budget shall revise the Stand-6
ard Occupational Classification system to include an occu-7
pational category for peer support specialists. 8
SEC. 4. ESTABLISHING THE OFFICE OF RECOVERY. 9
Part A of title V of the Public Health Service Act 10
(42 U.S.C. 290aa et seq.) is amended by inserting after 11
section 501C (42 U.S.C. 290aa–0b) the following: 12
‘‘SEC. 501D. OFFICE OF RECOVERY. 13
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—There is established, in the Sub-14
stance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 15
an Office of Recovery (referred to in this section as the 16
‘Office’). 17
‘‘(b) D
IRECTOR.—The Office shall be headed by a Di-18
rector who has demonstrated experience in, and lived expe-19
rience with, mental health or substance use disorder recov-20
ery. 21
‘‘(c) R
ESPONSIBILITIES.—Through the Office of Re-22
covery, the responsibilities of the Director shall include— 23
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‘‘(1) providing leadership in the identification of 1
new and emerging issues related to recovery support 2
services; 3
‘‘(2) supporting technical assistance, data anal-4
ysis, and evaluation functions in order to assist 5
States, localities, territories, Indian Tribes, and 6
Tribal organizations in developing recovery support 7
services and identifying best practices with the ob-8
jective of expanding the capacity of, and access to, 9
recovery support services; 10
‘‘(3) providing support for the training, edu-11
cation, integration, and professionalization of the 12
peer support specialist workforce; 13
‘‘(4) disseminating best practice recommenda-14
tions with respect to peer support specialist training, 15
certification, supervision, and practice to States and 16
other entities that employ peer support specialists; 17
‘‘(5) supporting peer support specialists with 18
ongoing professional development and retention ac-19
tivities; and 20
‘‘(6) developing recommendations on creating 21
career pathways for peer support specialists. 22
‘‘(d) F
UNCTIONS.—Beginning on the date of enact-23
ment of this section, the functions of the Office shall in-24
clude the responsibilities described in subsection (c) and 25
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the functions of the Office of Recovery of the Substance 1
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration on the 2
day before such date of enactment, including all of its per-3
sonnel, assets, authorities, obligations, and liabilities, ex-4
cept as otherwise specified in this section. 5
‘‘(e) D
EFINITION OFPEERSUPPORTSPECIALIST.— 6
In this section, the term ‘peer support specialist’ has the 7
meaning given such term in section 2 of the Providing 8
Empathetic and Effective Recovery Support Act’’. 9
SEC. 5. RESEARCH AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON CRIMINAL 10
BACKGROUND CHECK PROCESS FOR PEER 11
SUPPORT SPECIALISTS. 12
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 13
Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec-14
retary’’), in coordination with the Attorney General, shall 15
develop a report on research and recommendations with 16
respect to criminal background check processes for indi-17
viduals becoming peer support specialists. 18
(b) C
ONTENTS.—The report under subsection (a) 19
shall include— 20
(1) a summary of evidence-informed literature 21
on the effectiveness of peer support specialists in im-22
proving the mental health and the substance use dis-23
order recovery of other individuals; 24
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(2) a survey of each State’s laws (including reg-1
ulations) that contain criminal background check re-2
quirements for serving as a peer support specialist, 3
including— 4
(A) an analysis of criminal offenses that 5
are included in State laws (including regula-6
tions) that prevent individuals from earning a 7
peer support specialist certification or from 8
practicing as a peer support specialist; 9
(B) an analysis of requirements (if any) 10
under the State plan under title XIX of the So-11
cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.) or 12
under a waiver of such plan relating to back-13
ground checks for providers participating under 14
such plan or waiver and the extent to which any 15
such requirements differ from similar require-16
ments imposed under State law (including regu-17
lations); 18
(C) an analysis of requirements (if any) of 19
any State receiving a grant under part B of 20
title XIX of the Public Health Service Act (42 21
U.S.C. 300x et seq.) relating to background 22
checks for providers participating in a program 23
under, or otherwise providing services supported 24
by, such grant; 25
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(D) a review of State laws (including regu-1
lations) that provide exemptions from prohibi-2
tions regarding certification or practice of peer 3
support specialists; and 4
(E) an indication of each State that has 5
gone through the process of amending or other-6
wise changing criminal background check laws 7
(including regulations) for the certification and 8
practice of peer support specialists; and 9
(3) recommendations to States on criminal 10
background check processes that would reduce bar-11
riers to becoming certified as peer support special-12
ists. 13
(c) A
VAILABILITY.—Not later than 1 year after the 14
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall— 15
(1) post the report required under subsection 16
(a) on the publicly accessible internet website of the 17
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Ad-18
ministration; and 19
(2) distribute such report to— 20
(A) State agencies responsible for certifi-21
cation of peer support specialists; 22
(B) the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 23
Services; 24
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(C) State agencies responsible for carrying 1
out a State plan under title XIX of the Social 2
Security Act or under a waiver of such plan; 3
and 4
(D) State agencies responsible for carrying 5
out a grant under part B of title XIX of the 6
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300x et 7
seq.). 8
Æ
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