I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2837
To establish a Federal Advisory Council to Support Victims of Gun Violence.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL10, 2025
Mr. E
VANSof Pennsylvania (for himself, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. BEYER, Ms.
B
ONAMICI, Mr. BOYLEof Pennsylvania, Ms. BROWN, Ms. BROWNLEY,
Mr. C
ASTEN, Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Ms. CLARKEof New York,
Mrs. F
LETCHER, Mrs. FOUSHEE, Ms. GARCIAof Texas, Mr. GOLDMAN
of New York, Mr. J
OHNSONof Georgia, Ms. KELLYof Illinois, Mr.
K
HANNA, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. MAGAZINER, Ms.
M
CCOLLUM, Mr. MCGARVEY, Mr. MOSKOWITZ, Mr. MOULTON, Ms. NOR-
TON, Mrs. RAMIREZ, Ms. SCHRIER, Ms. TITUS, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. TOKUDA,
and Mrs. W
ATSONCOLEMAN) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To establish a Federal Advisory Council to Support Victims
of Gun Violence.
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 ‘‘Resources for Victims 4
of Gun Violence Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
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(1) ADVISORY COUNCIL.—The term ‘‘Advisory 1
Council’’ means the Advisory Council to Support 2
Victims of Gun Violence established under section 3. 3
(2) A
PPROPRIATE COMMITTEES .—The term 4
‘‘appropriate committees’’ means the following: 5
(A) The Committee on Health, Education, 6
Labor, and Pensions of the Senate. 7
(B) The Committee on the Judiciary of the 8
Senate. 9
(C) The Committee on Education and 10
Workforce of the House of Representatives. 11
(D) The Committee on Energy and Com-12
merce of the House of Representatives. 13
(E) The Committee on the Judiciary of the 14
House of Representatives. 15
(F) Any other relevant committee of the 16
Senate or of the House of Representatives with 17
jurisdiction over matters affecting victims of 18
gun violence. 19
(3) G
UN VIOLENCE.—The term ‘‘gun violence’’ 20
means— 21
(A) suicide involving firearms; 22
(B) homicide involving firearms; 23
(C) domestic violence involving firearms; 24
(D) hate crimes involving firearms; 25
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(E) youth violence involving firearms; 1
(F) mass shootings; 2
(G) unintentional shootings; 3
(H) non-fatal shootings; and 4
(I) threats or exposure to violent acts in-5
volving firearms. 6
(4) V
ICTIM ASSISTANCE PROFESSIONAL .—The 7
term ‘‘victim assistance professional’’ means a pro-8
fessional who assists victims of gun violence, includ-9
ing— 10
(A) a medical professional, including an 11
emergency medical professional; 12
(B) a social worker; 13
(C) a provider of long-term services or 14
care; and 15
(D) a victim advocate. 16
(5) V
ICTIM OF GUN VIOLENCE.—The term ‘‘vic-17
tim of gun violence’’ means— 18
(A) an individual who has been wounded 19
as a result of gun violence; 20
(B) an individual who has been threatened 21
with an act of gun violence; 22
(C) an individual who has witnessed an act 23
of gun violence; and 24
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(D) a relative, classmate, coworker, or 1
other associate of— 2
(i) an individual who has been killed 3
as a result of gun violence; or 4
(ii) an individual described in sub-5
paragraph (A) or (B). 6
SEC. 3. ADVISORY COUNCIL TO SUPPORT VICTIMS OF GUN 7
VIOLENCE. 8
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is established an Advi-9
sory Council to Support Victims of Gun Violence. 10
(b) M
EMBERSHIP.— 11
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Advisory Council shall 12
be composed of the following members or their des-13
ignees: 14
(A) The Secretary of Health and Human 15
Services. 16
(B) The Attorney General. 17
(C) The Secretary of Education. 18
(D) The Secretary of Housing and Urban 19
Development. 20
(E) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs. 21
(F) The Commissioner of Social Security. 22
(G) The Assistant Secretary for Mental 23
Health and Substance Use. 24
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(H) The Director of the Centers for Dis-1
ease Control and Prevention. 2
(I) The Director of the National Institutes 3
of Health. 4
(J) The Administrator of the Administra-5
tion for Community Living. 6
(K) The Director of the Office on Violence 7
Against Women. 8
(L) The Director of the Office for Victims 9
of Crime. 10
(M) The chairman of the Board of the 11
Legal Services Corporation. 12
(N) As appropriate, the head of any other 13
Federal department or agency identified by the 14
Secretary of Health and Human Services as 15
having responsibilities, or administering pro-16
grams, relating to issues affecting victims of 17
gun violence. 18
(2) A
DDITIONAL MEMBERS .—In addition to the 19
members described in paragraph (1), the Advisory 20
Council shall be composed of the following: 21
(A) Not fewer than 2 and not more than 22
5 victims of gun violence, who shall be ap-23
pointed by the Secretary of Health and Human 24
Services. 25
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(B) Not fewer than 2 and not more than 1
5 victim assistance professionals, who shall be 2
appointed by the Secretary of Health and 3
Human Services. 4
(3) L
EAD AGENCY.—The Department of Health 5
and Human Services shall be the lead agency for the 6
Advisory Council. 7
(c) D
UTIES.— 8
(1) A
SSESSMENT.—The Advisory Council 9
shall— 10
(A) survey victims of gun violence and vic-11
tim assistance professionals about their needs 12
in order to inform the content of information 13
disseminated under paragraph (2) and the re-14
port published under paragraph (3); 15
(B) conduct a literature review and assess 16
past or ongoing programs designed to assist vic-17
tims of gun violence or individuals with similar 18
needs to determine— 19
(i) the effectiveness of the programs; 20
and 21
(ii) best and promising practices for 22
assisting victims of gun violence; and 23
(C) assess the administration of compensa-24
tion funds established after mass shootings to 25
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determine best and promising practices to di-1
rect victims of gun violence to sources of fund-2
ing. 3
(2) I
NFORMATION.— 4
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Advisory Council 5
shall identify, promote, coordinate, and dissemi-6
nate to the public information, resources, and 7
best and promising practices available to help 8
victims of gun violence— 9
(i) meet their medical, financial, edu-10
cational, workplace, housing, transpor-11
tation, assistive technology, and accessi-12
bility needs; 13
(ii) maintain their mental health and 14
emotional well-being; 15
(iii) seek legal redress for their inju-16
ries and protection against any ongoing 17
threats to their safety; and 18
(iv) access government programs, 19
services, and benefits for which they may 20
be eligible or to which they may be enti-21
tled. 22
(B) C
ONTACT INFORMATION .—The Advi-23
sory Council shall include in the information 24
disseminated under subparagraph (A) the 25
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websites and telephone contact information for 1
helplines of relevant Federal agencies, State 2
agencies, and nonprofit organizations. 3
(C) A
VAILABILITY.—The Advisory Council 4
shall make the information described in sub-5
paragraphs (A) and (B) available— 6
(i) online through a public website; 7
and 8
(ii) by submitting a hard copy and 9
making available additional hard copies 10
to— 11
(I) each Member of Congress; 12
(II) each field office of the Social 13
Security Administration; 14
(III) each State agency that is 15
responsible for administering health 16
and human services, for dissemination 17
to medical facilities; 18
(IV) each State agency that is re-19
sponsible for administering education 20
programs, for dissemination to 21
schools; and 22
(V) the office of each State attor-23
ney general, for dissemination to local 24
prosecutor’s offices. 25
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(3) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 1
the date of enactment of this Act, the Advisory 2
Council shall— 3
(A) prepare a report that— 4
(i) includes the best and promising 5
practices, resources, and other useful infor-6
mation for victims of gun violence identi-7
fied under paragraph (2); 8
(ii) identifies any gaps in items de-9
scribed in clause (i); and 10
(iii) if applicable, identifies any addi-11
tional Federal or State legislative authority 12
necessary to implement the activities de-13
scribed in clause (i) or address the gaps 14
described in clause (ii); 15
(B) submit the report prepared under sub-16
paragraph (A) to— 17
(i) the appropriate committees; 18
(ii) each State agency that is respon-19
sible for administering health and human 20
services; 21
(iii) each State agency that is respon-22
sible for administering education pro-23
grams; and 24
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(iv) the office of each State attorney 1
general; and 2
(C) make the report prepared under sub-3
paragraph (A) available to the public online in 4
an accessible format. 5
(4) F
OLLOW-UP REPORT.—Not later than 2 6
years after the date on which the Advisory Council 7
prepares the report under paragraph (3), the Advi-8
sory Council shall— 9
(A) submit to the entities described in sub-10
paragraph (B) of that paragraph a follow-up re-11
port that includes the information identified in 12
subparagraph (A) of that paragraph; and 13
(B) make the follow-up report described in 14
subparagraph (A) available to the public online 15
in an accessible format. 16
(5) P
UBLIC INPUT.— 17
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Advisory Council 18
shall establish a process to collect public input 19
to inform the development of, and provide up-20
dates to, the best and promising practices, re-21
sources, and other information described in 22
paragraph (2), including by conducting out-23
reach to entities and individuals described in 24
subparagraph (B) of this paragraph that— 25
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(i) have a range of experience with the 1
types of gun violence described in section 2
2(3); and 3
(ii) include representation from com-4
munities disproportionately affected by gun 5
violence. 6
(B) E
NTITIES AND INDIVIDUALS.—The en-7
tities and individuals described in this subpara-8
graph are— 9
(i) States, local governments, and or-10
ganizations that provide information to, or 11
support for, victims of gun violence; 12
(ii) victims of gun violence; and 13
(iii) victim assistance professionals. 14
(C) N
ATURE OF OUTREACH .—In con-15
ducting outreach under subparagraph (A), the 16
Advisory Council shall ask for input on— 17
(i) information, resources, and best 18
and promising practices available, includ-19
ing identification of any gaps and unmet 20
needs; 21
(ii) recommendations that would help 22
victims of gun violence— 23
(I) better meet their medical, fi-24
nancial, educational, workplace, hous-25
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ing, transportation, assistive tech-1
nology, and accessibility needs; 2
(II) maintain their mental health 3
and emotional well-being; 4
(III) seek legal redress for their 5
injuries and protection against any 6
ongoing threats to their safety; and 7
(IV) access government pro-8
grams, services, and benefits for 9
which the victims may be eligible or to 10
which the victims may be entitled; and 11
(iii) any other subject areas discovered 12
during the process that would help victims 13
of gun violence. 14
(d) F
EDERALADVISORYCOMMITTEEACT.—Chapter 15
10 of title 5, United States Code, shall not apply to the 16
Advisory Council. 17
(e) F
UNDING.—No additional funds are authorized to 18
be appropriated to carry out this Act. 19
(f) S
UNSET.—The Advisory Council shall terminate 20
on the date that is 5 years after the date of enactment 21
of this Act. 22
Æ
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