II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 666
To increase access to mental health, substance use, and counseling services
for first responders, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY20, 2025
Mrs. G
ILLIBRAND(for herself and Mr. HAWLEY) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu-
cation, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To increase access to mental health, substance use, and
counseling services for first responders, 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 ‘‘First Responders 4
Wellness Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FIRST RESPONDERS MENTAL HEALTH HOTLINE. 6
Part P of title III of the Public Health Service Act 7
(42 U.S.C. 280g et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 8
the following: 9
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‘‘SEC. 399V–8. FIRST RESPONDERS MENTAL HEALTH HOT-1
LINE. 2
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 3
date of enactment of the First Responders Wellness Act, 4
the Secretary, acting through the Assistant Secretary for 5
Mental Health and Substance Use, shall maintain, directly 6
or by contract or grant, a national first responders emer-7
gency hotline to provide peer and emotional support, infor-8
mation, brief intervention, and mental and behavioral 9
health and substance use disorder resources and referrals 10
to first responders and to their families or household mem-11
bers. 12
‘‘(b) R
EQUIREMENTS FOR HOTLINE.—The hotline 13
established under subsection (a) shall— 14
‘‘(1) operate as a separate, widely recognizable 15
number with bidirectional transfer options with the 16
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline established pursuant 17
to section 520E–3; 18
‘‘(2) provide toll-free, real-time, live assistance 19
24/7; 20
‘‘(3) provide voice and text support; 21
‘‘(4) be sufficiently staffed by, at a minimum, 22
culturally competent first responder peer specialists 23
or first responder mental health services providers 24
who have distinct knowledge of, and are trained 25
on— 26
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‘‘(A) the essential functions of first re-1
sponders and public safety organizations; 2
‘‘(B) the working conditions unique to first 3
responders; 4
‘‘(C) common and novel stressors inherent 5
in public safety and emergency response work; 6
‘‘(D) normal and abnormal adaptation to 7
occupational stress and trauma; and 8
‘‘(E) the unique aspects of confidentiality 9
and testimonial privilege; and 10
‘‘(5) provide peer support, mental and behav-11
ioral health and substance use disorder assistance, 12
and referral services to meet the needs of first re-13
sponders and family members or household members 14
at risk of experiencing mental or behavioral health 15
or substance use disorders. 16
‘‘(c) A
DDITIONALREQUIREMENTS.— 17
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—In maintaining the hotline 18
under subsection (a), the Secretary shall— 19
‘‘(A) consult with the National Domestic 20
Violence Hotline, the 988 Suicide and Crisis 21
Lifeline, and the Veterans Crisis Line to ensure 22
that first responders are connected in real-time 23
to the appropriate specialized hotline service, 24
when applicable; 25
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‘‘(B) conduct a public awareness campaign 1
for the hotline under subsection (a); 2
‘‘(C) consult with Federal departments and 3
agencies, including the Substance Abuse and 4
Mental Health Services Administration and the 5
Department of Justice, to increase awareness 6
regarding the hotline under subsection (a); and 7
‘‘(D) consult with organizations that oper-8
ate existing crisis or peer support hotlines for 9
first responders with respect to best practices 10
for operating such hotlines. 11
‘‘(2) E
XISTING HOTLINES.—The Secretary or 12
an entity receiving a grant or contract under sub-13
section (a), as applicable, shall form partnerships be-14
tween the existing national first responders mental 15
health hotline and other first responder helplines 16
and websites. 17
‘‘(3) C
OORDINATION.—The Secretary shall en-18
sure that calls from public safety personnel received 19
through the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline are ap-20
propriately referred to the hotline under subsection 21
(a). 22
‘‘(4) T
RAINING CURRICULUM.—Not later than 2 23
years after the date of enactment of the First Re-24
sponders Wellness Act, the Secretary shall develop, 25
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in coordination with mental health providers and 1
first responder associations or personnel, trauma-in-2
formed and culturally competent training, guidance, 3
and standards for 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline 4
network center personnel on the unique concerns, re-5
sources, linkages, and stressors of first responders. 6
‘‘(d) A
NNUALREPORT.—The Secretary shall submit 7
an annual report to Congress on the hotline under sub-8
section (a) and implementation of this section, including— 9
‘‘(1) an evaluation of the effectiveness of activi-10
ties conducted or supported under subsection (a); 11
‘‘(2) an evaluation of staffing levels necessary 12
to maintain adequate services; 13
‘‘(3) a directory of entities or organizations to 14
which staff maintaining the hotline funded under 15
this section may make referrals; and 16
‘‘(4) such additional information as the Sec-17
retary determines appropriate. 18
‘‘(e) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 19
‘‘(1) C
ULTURALLY COMPETENT FIRST RE -20
SPONDER PEER SPECIALIST .—The term ‘culturally 21
competent first responder peer specialist’ means an 22
individual— 23
‘‘(A) with familiarity with, and under-24
standing of, the duties and unique stressors of 25
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first responders, which may include experience 1
working as a first responder; and 2
‘‘(B) who completed a trauma-informed 3
and culturally competent training curriculum 4
developed pursuant to subsection (c)(4), or an-5
other trauma-informed and culturally com-6
petent training curriculum, as the Secretary de-7
termines appropriate. 8
‘‘(2) F
IRST RESPONDER.—The term ‘first re-9
sponder’— 10
‘‘(A) means— 11
‘‘(i) a law enforcement officer, fire-12
fighter, or member of a rescue squad or 13
ambulance crew (as such terms are defined 14
in section 1204 of title I of the Omnibus 15
Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 16
1968); or 17
‘‘(ii) a public safety telecommunicator, 18
including 9–1–1 operators and dispatchers; 19
and 20
‘‘(B) includes a retired first responder. 21
‘‘(3) F
IRST RESPONDER MENTAL HEALTH 22
SERVICES PROVIDER .—The term ‘first responder 23
mental health services provider’ includes a State-li-24
censed or State-certified counselor, trauma coun-25
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selor, psychologist or other State licensed or certified 1
mental health professional who— 2
‘‘(A) is qualified under State law to pro-3
vide mental or behavioral health services; and 4
‘‘(B) has a familiarity with and under-5
standing of the duties and unique stressors of 6
first responders. 7
‘‘(f) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 8
carry out this section, there are authorized to be appro-9
priated $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 10
2031.’’. 11
SEC. 3. CRISIS COUNSELING ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING. 12
Section 416(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-13
lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5183(a)) 14
is amended by inserting ‘‘and to qualified emergency re-15
sponse providers responding to major disasters’’ after 16
‘‘victims of major disasters’’. 17
SEC. 4. REPORT ON ON-SITE SERVICES DURING A NA-18
TIONAL DISASTER. 19
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 20
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and 21
Human Services, acting through the Assistant Secretary 22
for Mental Health and Substance Use, shall issue a report 23
on best practices and recommendations to establish a new 24
mobile health care delivery site to provide integrated, 25
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short-term crisis services to qualified emergency response 1
providers of a major disaster. Such services shall— 2
(1) be culturally and linguistically appropriate; 3
(2) be trauma-informed; and 4
(3) incorporate disaster behavioral interven-5
tions. 6
(b) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 7
(1) M
AJOR DISASTER.—The term ‘‘major dis-8
aster’’ has the meaning given such term in section 9
102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 10
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122). 11
(2) M
AJOR DISASTER AREA.—The term ‘‘major 12
disaster area’’ has the meaning given such term in 13
section 625.2 of title 20, Code of Federal Regula-14
tions (or successor regulations). 15
(3) Q
UALIFIED EMERGENCY RESPONSE PRO -16
VIDERS.—The term ‘‘qualified emergency response 17
providers’’ means— 18
(A) emergency response providers (as de-19
fined in section 2 of the Homeland Security Act 20
of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101)); and 21
(B) public safety telecommunicators. 22
Æ
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