Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB1329 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 1329
5	5	To address the behavioral health workforce shortages through support for
6	6	peer support specialists, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	APRIL8, 2025
9	9	Mr. K
10	10	AINE(for himself, Mr. BANKS, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. MURKOWSKI, and
11	11	Mr. W
12	12	YDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re-
13	13	ferred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To address the behavioral health workforce shortages through
16	16	support for peer support specialists, and for other purposes.
17	17	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
18	18	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
19	19	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
20	20	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Providing Empathetic 4
21	21	and Effective Recovery Support Act’’ or the ‘‘PEER Sup-5
22	22	port Act’’. 6
23	23	SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF PEER SUPPORT SPECIALIST. 7
24	24	(a) I
25	25	NGENERAL.—In this Act, the term ‘‘peer sup-8
26	26	port specialist’’ means an individual— 9
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29	29	•S 1329 IS
30	30	(1)(A) who has lived experience of recovery 1
31	31	from a mental health condition or substance use dis-2
32	32	order and who specializes in supporting individuals 3
33	33	with mental health conditions or substance use dis-4
34	34	orders; or 5
35	35	(B) who has lived experience as a parent or 6
36	36	caregiver of an individual with a mental health con-7
37	37	dition or substance use disorder and who specializes 8
38	38	in supporting families navigating mental health or 9
39	39	substance use service systems; and 10
40	40	(2) who is certified as qualified to furnish peer 11
41	41	support services, as described in subsection (b), 12
42	42	under a process that is determined by the State in 13
43	43	which such individual furnishes such services or de-14
44	44	termined appropriate by the Secretary of Health and 15
45	45	Human Services. 16
46	46	(b) P
47	47	EERSUPPORTSERVICES.—The services de-17
48	48	scribed in this subsection shall be consistent with the Na-18
49	49	tional Practice Guidelines for Peer Supporters issued by 19
50	50	the National Association of Peer Supporters (or a suc-20
51	51	cessor publication) and inclusive of the Core Competencies 21
52	52	for Peer Workers in Behavioral Health Services of the 22
53	53	Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administra-23
54	54	tion. 24
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57	57	•S 1329 IS
58	58	SEC. 3. RECOGNIZING THE PEER SUPPORT SPECIALIST 1
59	59	PROFESSION. 2
60	60	Not later than January 1, 2026, the Director of the 3
61	61	Office of Management and Budget shall revise the Stand-4
62	62	ard Occupational Classification system to include an occu-5
63	63	pational category for peer support specialists. 6
64	64	SEC. 4. ESTABLISHING THE OFFICE OF RECOVERY. 7
65	65	Part A of title V of the Public Health Service Act 8
66	66	(42 U.S.C. 290aa et seq.) is amended by inserting after 9
67	67	section 501C (42 U.S.C. 290aa–0b) the following: 10
68	68	‘‘SEC. 501D. OFFICE OF RECOVERY. 11
69	69	‘‘(a) I
70	70	NGENERAL.—There is established, in the Sub-12
71	71	stance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 13
72	72	an Office of Recovery (referred to in this section as the 14
73	73	‘Office’). 15
74	74	‘‘(b) D
75	75	IRECTOR.—The Office shall be headed by a Di-16
76	76	rector who has demonstrated experience in, and lived expe-17
77	77	rience with, mental health or substance use disorder recov-18
78	78	ery. 19
79	79	‘‘(c) R
80	80	ESPONSIBILITIES.—Through the Office of Re-20
81	81	covery, the responsibilities of the Director shall include— 21
82	82	‘‘(1) providing leadership in the identification of 22
83	83	new and emerging issues related to recovery support 23
84	84	services; 24
85	85	‘‘(2) supporting technical assistance, data anal-25
86	86	ysis, and evaluation functions in order to assist 26
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89	89	•S 1329 IS
90	90	States, localities, territories, Indian Tribes, and 1
91	91	Tribal organizations in developing recovery support 2
92	92	services and identifying best practices with the ob-3
93	93	jective of expanding the capacity of, and access to, 4
94	94	recovery support services; 5
95	95	‘‘(3) providing support for the training, edu-6
96	96	cation, integration, and professionalization of the 7
97	97	peer support specialist workforce; 8
98	98	‘‘(4) disseminating best practice recommenda-9
99	99	tions with respect to peer support specialist training, 10
100	100	certification, supervision, and practice to States and 11
101	101	other entities that employ peer support specialists; 12
102	102	‘‘(5) supporting peer support specialists with 13
103	103	ongoing professional development and retention ac-14
104	104	tivities; and 15
105	105	‘‘(6) developing recommendations on creating 16
106	106	career pathways for peer support specialists. 17
107	107	‘‘(d) F
108	108	UNCTIONS.—Beginning on the date of enact-18
109	109	ment of this section, the functions of the Office shall in-19
110	110	clude the responsibilities described in subsection (c) and 20
111	111	the functions of the Office of Recovery of the Substance 21
112	112	Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration on the 22
113	113	day before such date of enactment, including all of its per-23
114	114	sonnel, assets, authorities, obligations, and liabilities, ex-24
115	115	cept as otherwise specified in this section. 25
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118	118	•S 1329 IS
119	119	‘‘(e) DEFINITION OFPEERSUPPORTSPECIALIST.— 1
120	120	In this section, the term ‘peer support specialist’ has the 2
121	121	meaning given such term in section 2 of the Providing 3
122	122	Empathetic and Effective Recovery Support Act.’’. 4
123	123	SEC. 5. RESEARCH AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON CRIMINAL 5
124	124	BACKGROUND CHECK PROCESS FOR PEER 6
125	125	SUPPORT SPECIALISTS. 7
126	126	(a) I
127	127	NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 8
128	128	Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec-9
129	129	retary’’), in coordination with the Attorney General, shall 10
130	130	develop a report on research and recommendations with 11
131	131	respect to criminal background check processes for indi-12
132	132	viduals becoming peer support specialists. 13
133	133	(b) C
134	134	ONTENTS.—The report under subsection (a) 14
135	135	shall include— 15
136	136	(1) a summary of evidence-informed literature 16
137	137	on the effectiveness of peer support specialists in im-17
138	138	proving the mental health and the substance use dis-18
139	139	order recovery of other individuals; 19
140	140	(2) a survey of each State’s laws (including reg-20
141	141	ulations) that contain criminal background check re-21
142	142	quirements for serving as a peer support specialist, 22
143	143	including— 23
144	144	(A) an analysis of criminal offenses that 24
145	145	are included in State laws (including regula-25
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148	148	•S 1329 IS
149	149	tions) that prevent individuals from earning a 1
150	150	peer support specialist certification or from 2
151	151	practicing as a peer support specialist; 3
152	152	(B) an analysis of requirements (if any) 4
153	153	under the State plan under title XIX of the So-5
154	154	cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.) or 6
155	155	under a waiver of such plan relating to back-7
156	156	ground checks for providers participating under 8
157	157	such plan or waiver and the extent to which any 9
158	158	such requirements differ from similar require-10
159	159	ments imposed under State law (including regu-11
160	160	lations); 12
161	161	(C) an analysis of requirements (if any) of 13
162	162	any State receiving a grant under part B of 14
163	163	title XIX of the Public Health Service Act (42 15
164	164	U.S.C. 300x et seq.) relating to background 16
165	165	checks for providers participating in a program 17
166	166	under, or otherwise providing services supported 18
167	167	by, such grant; 19
168	168	(D) a review of State laws (including regu-20
169	169	lations) that provide exemptions from prohibi-21
170	170	tions regarding certification or practice of peer 22
171	171	support specialists; and 23
172	172	(E) an indication of each State that has 24
173	173	gone through the process of amending or other-25
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176	176	•S 1329 IS
177	177	wise changing criminal background check laws 1
178	178	(including regulations) for the certification and 2
179	179	practice of peer support specialists; and 3
180	180	(3) recommendations to States on criminal 4
181	181	background check processes that would reduce bar-5
182	182	riers to becoming certified as peer support special-6
183	183	ists. 7
184	184	(c) A
185	185	VAILABILITY.—Not later than 1 year after the 8
186	186	date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall— 9
187	187	(1) post the report required under subsection 10
188	188	(a) on the publicly accessible internet website of the 11
189	189	Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Ad-12
190	190	ministration; and 13
191	191	(2) distribute such report to— 14
192	192	(A) State agencies responsible for certifi-15
193	193	cation of peer support specialists; 16
194	194	(B) the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 17
195	195	Services; 18
196	196	(C) State agencies responsible for carrying 19
197	197	out a State plan under title XIX of the Social 20
198	198	Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.) or under 21
199	199	a waiver of such plan; and 22
200	200	(D) State agencies responsible for carrying 23
201	201	out a grant under part B of title XIX of the 24
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204	204	•S 1329 IS
205	205	Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300x et 1
206	206	seq.). 2
207	207	Æ
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