II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1074
To provide for a study on the accessibility of substance use disorder treatment
and mental health care providers and services for farmers and ranchers,
and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH14, 2025
Mr. B
ENNET(for himself and Ms. LUMMIS) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu-
cation, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To provide for a study on the accessibility of substance
use disorder treatment and mental health care providers
and services for farmers and ranchers, 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 ‘‘Agricultural Access 4
to Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Mental Health 5
Care Act of 2025’’. 6
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SEC. 2. STUDY ON ACCESSIBILITY OF SUBSTANCE USE DIS-1
ORDER TREATMENT AND MENTAL HEALTH 2
CARE PROVIDERS AND SERVICES FOR FARM-3
ERS AND RANCHERS. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 5
date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 6
of the United States shall— 7
(1) conduct a study on the accessibility of sub-8
stance use disorder treatment and mental health 9
care providers and services for farmers and ranch-10
ers; and 11
(2) submit a report containing the results of 12
the study conducted under paragraph (1) to— 13
(A) the Secretary of Agriculture; 14
(B) the Secretary of Health and Human 15
Services; 16
(C) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutri-17
tion, and Forestry of the Senate; 18
(D) the Committee on Health, Education, 19
Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; 20
(E) the Committee on Finance of the Sen-21
ate; 22
(F) the Committee on Agriculture of the 23
House of Representatives; 24
(G) the Committee on Energy and Com-25
merce of the House of Representatives; and 26
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(H) the Committee on Ways and Means of 1
the House of Representatives. 2
(b) T
OPICSADDRESSED.—The study conducted 3
under subsection (a) shall include an examination of the 4
following topics: 5
(1) The availability and accessibility in rural 6
areas of substance use disorder treatment and men-7
tal health care providers and services that are 8
trained and dedicated to serve the needs of farmers, 9
ranchers, agricultural workers, and their family 10
members. 11
(2) Barriers and challenges faced by farmers 12
and ranchers in accessing substance use disorder 13
treatment and mental health care and health and 14
wellness resources, including financial, geographic, 15
and cultural barriers. 16
(3) Identification of best practices and success-17
ful programs at the State and local levels that can 18
be replicated at the Federal level to address sub-19
stance use disorder treatment and mental health 20
care needs in agricultural communities, including the 21
following: 22
(A) Hiring and training of substance use 23
disorder treatment and mental health care pro-24
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fessionals with expertise in working with agri-1
cultural communities. 2
(B) Accessing cultural competency training 3
for substance use disorder treatment and men-4
tal health care professionals that lack expertise 5
in working with agricultural communities. 6
(C) Developing certificate programs for 7
paraprofessionals and coaches to offer peer-to- 8
peer support programming. 9
(D) Researching effective curricula for 10
youth and young adults to be offered in rural 11
schools. 12
(E) Expanding telehealth and telemedicine 13
services to improve access to care in rural 14
areas. 15
(F) Developing outreach and educational 16
programs to reduce stigma and increase aware-17
ness of mental health issues among farmers and 18
ranchers. 19
(G) Enhancing coordination and collabora-20
tion between existing mental health providers 21
and agricultural organizations. 22
(H) Conducting research and evaluation to 23
measure the effectiveness of substance use dis-24
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order treatment and mental health care services 1
provided to farmers and ranchers. 2
(4) Utilization of, and best practices among 3
grantees through, the Farm and Ranch Stress As-4
sistance Network under section 7522 of the Food, 5
Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 6
5936). 7
(5) Recommendations for improving the accessi-8
bility and utilization of substance use disorder treat-9
ment and mental health care for farmers and ranch-10
ers. 11
Æ
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