Student Mental Health Helpline Act of 2021
This bill authorizes grants to support student mental health and safety helplines (i.e., a free, confidential service that is accessible via telephone and other communication platforms that assists students facing challenges with abuse, bullying, depression, self-harm, and related issues). The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) may award the grants to agencies or other subdivisions of a state, Indian tribe, or local government that are primarily responsible for health, public health, or education.
Among other purposes, recipients must use funds to establish or maintain a helpline that provides information to school officials (to the extent permitted by federal privacy standards for health information) about student mental health and safety concerns.
The bill also requires SAMHSA to report on the feasibility of setting up a nationally available student mental health and safety helpline.
[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5235 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5235
To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of
Health and Human Services, acting through the Assistant Secretary for
Mental Health and Substance Use, to award grants to eligible entities
to establish or maintain a student mental health and safety helpline,
and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 10, 2021
Ms. Newman (for herself and Mr. Stewart) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of
Health and Human Services, acting through the Assistant Secretary for
Mental Health and Substance Use, to award grants to eligible entities
to establish or maintain a student mental health and safety helpline,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Student Mental Health Helpline Act
of 2021''.
SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR STUDENT MENTAL HEALTH AND SAFETY HELPLINE.
Part D of title V of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290dd
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``SEC. 553. GRANTS FOR STUDENT MENTAL HEALTH AND SAFETY HELPLINE.
``(a) In General.--
``(1) Establishment or maintenance grants.--The Secretary,
acting through the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and
Substance Use, and in consultation with the Secretary of
Education, may award grants to eligible entities to establish
or maintain a student mental health and safety helpline that--
``(A) is free and confidential;
``(B) is accessible to students through multiple
platforms;
``(C) provides information to school officials
about student health and safety issues, to the extent
permitted by the HIPAA privacy regulations; and
``(D) operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week,
every day of the year.
``(2) Transition grants.--
``(A) In general.--The Secretary, acting through
the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance
Use, and in consultation with the Secretary of
Education, may award grants to States, local
governments, Indian Tribes, and Tribal organizations to
transition, by not later than 2 years after the award
of the grant, a helpline that was in existence on the
day before the date of enactment of the Student Mental
Health Helpline Act of 2021 to an agency or subdivision
whose primary responsibility relates to health, public
health, or education so as to become eligible for
grants under paragraph (1).
``(B) Use of funds.--A grant under subparagraph (A)
shall be used exclusively for costs associated with the
transition described in such subparagraph.
``(b) Application of HIPAA Privacy Regulations.--
``(1) Covered entity.--A helpline funded under subsection
(a)(1) shall be treated as a covered entity (as defined in
section 106.103 of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations (or
successor regulations)), and information received by the
helpline from students contacting the helpline shall be treated
as protected health information (as defined in such section
106.103 (or successor regulations)), for purposes of the HIPAA
privacy regulations.
``(2) Additional privacy standards.--Nothing in this
section shall be construed to preempt or otherwise prohibit the
application, with respect to a helpline funded under this
section, of privacy standards in addition to those applicable
under the HIPAA privacy regulations.
``(c) Eligible Grantees.--To be eligible to receive a grant under
subsection (a)(1), an entity shall be an agency or other subdivision--
``(1) of a State, a local government, an Indian Tribe, or a
Tribal organization; and
``(2) whose primary responsibility relates to health,
public health, or education.
``(d) Requirements.--A recipient of a grant under subsection (a)(1)
shall use the grant for each of the following:
``(1) Supporting a phone line, texting, and social media
accounts for students facing challenges with abuse, bullying,
depression, risk of self-injury, risk of injury to others, or
suicidal thoughts.
``(2) Providing such support in a culturally competent
manner, including to students who--
``(A) are from diverse backgrounds; or
``(B) identify with groups associated with a higher
risk of bullying, abuse, and suicide, such as
individuals who are LGBTQ or have disabilities.
``(3) Coordinating with--
``(A) other mental health crisis lines;
``(B) State and local mental health agencies and
providers, local educational agencies, school
administrators, and community-based health service
providers; and
``(C) in cases of neglect and abuse, State and
local family service agencies.
``(4) Ensuring that--
``(A) activities funded through the grant are
conducted in accordance with all applicable Federal and
State privacy standards; and
``(B) health care information collected through
such activities will be maintained in a secure manner.
``(5) Developing a disaster recovery plan and redundancy
measures to ensure continuous technical operations.
``(e) Other Allowable Uses.--A recipient of a grant under
subsection (a)(1) may choose to use the grant for any of the following:
``(1) Supporting forms of communication in addition to
those specified in subsection (d)(1), such as online forms and
an email account.
``(2) In addition to coordinating with the entities
specified in subsection (d)(3), coordinating with nonprofit
organizations and institutions of higher education.
``(3) Developing educational curricula that schools may
choose to offer, in conjunction with the helpline funded
through the grant, to remove the stigma of mental illness,
prevent bullying, prevent domestic violence, prevent suicide,
or otherwise address student mental health and safety.
``(4) Promoting activities to encourage students to use of
the helpline funded through the grant.
``(5) Collecting and analyzing data on the use of the
helpline funded through the grant to improve and adjust
services offered through the helpline.
``(6) Providing support in multiple languages in areas with
a high concentration of multiple language speakers.
``(7) Developing, in accordance with best practices and
guidelines of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration for behavioral health crisis care, protocols and
training for identifying and responding to students who present
an imminent risk of harming themselves or others.
``(8) Providing training, technology, and personnel
necessary to comply with the HIPAA privacy regulations or other
relevant privacy standards.
``(9) Coordinating and sharing best practices with other
student mental health and safety helplines, including other
helplines funded pursuant to this section.
``(10) Sharing personnel (such as crisis counselors),
services (such as technology and data management services), and
other resources deemed appropriate by the Secretary with other
mental health and safety helplines that--
``(A) are operated by the recipient of the grant;
or
``(B) are operated by another entity and funded
through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration.
``(f) Period of a Grant.--The period of a grant under subsection
(a)(1) shall be not less than 5 years.
``(g) Subgrants and Contracts.--
``(1) Authorization.--A recipient of a grant under
subsection (a)(1) may award subgrants and enter into contracts
to carry out activities funded through the grant.
``(2) Eligible subgrantees and contractors.--To be eligible
to receive a subgrant or contract under paragraph (1), an
entity shall be--
``(A) a local educational agency;
``(B) an institution of higher education;
``(C) a nonprofit organization;
``(D) a for-profit organization that provides--
``(i) website or data management services;
``(ii) specialized staff trained in crisis
intervention to answer incoming messages; or
``(iii) other products or services deemed
by the Secretary to be appropriate for
establishing or maintaining a helpline funded
under subsection (a)(1);
``(E) a school; or
``(F) another type of entity deemed by the
Secretary to be appropriate for subgrants or contracts
under paragraph (1).
``(3) Accreditation.--To be eligible to receive a subgrant
or contract under paragraph (1) for specialized staff trained
in crisis intervention to answer incoming messages, an entity
shall be accredited by a nationally recognized accreditation
entity that applies current evidence-based practices related to
mental and behavioral health.
``(4) Priority.--In awarding subgrants and contracts under
paragraph (1), a recipient of a grant under subsection (a)(1)
shall give priority to eligible entities that--
``(A) retain a licensed mental health care
practitioner on staff; and
``(B) participate in the network the National
Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
``(h) Reporting.--
``(1) Annual reports to congress.--Each fiscal year for
which grants are awarded under subsection (a)(1) or (a)(2), the
Secretary shall--
``(A) study the results of the grants; and
``(B) submit to the Congress a report on such
results, including--
``(i) an evaluation of the outcomes of the
programs under subsections (a)(1) and (a)(2);
``(ii) a summary of activities carried out
with grants under subsections (a)(1) and (a)(2)
and the results achieved through those
activities;
``(iii) to the extent practicable, the
demographics of students served and nature of
messages received through grants under
subsections (a)(1) and (a)(2); and
``(iv) in the case of grants under
subsection (a)(2), an analysis of changes in
the outcomes, activities, demographics, and
nature of messages described in clauses (i),
(ii), and (iii) as a result of transitioning
helplines to different agencies or
subdivisions.
``(2) Report on feasibility of a national student
helpline.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of
the Student Mental Health Helpline Act of 2021, the Secretary,
in consultation with the Secretary of Education and the Chair
of the Federal Communications Commission, shall publish a
report on--
``(A) the feasibility of making a student mental
health and safety helpline nationally available;
``(B) how to successfully integrate the helplines
of States and other entities into a consolidated
national student mental health and safety helpline; and
``(C) the feasibility and potential benefits and
drawbacks of adding a student-specific capability to
the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
``(i) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) The term `HIPAA privacy regulations' means the
Federal regulations (concerning the privacy of individually
identifiable health information) promulgated under section
264(c) of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act of 1996 (42 U.S.C. 1320d-2 note).
``(2) The terms `Indian Tribe' and `Tribal organization'
have the meanings given to such terms in section 4 of the
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act.
``(3) The term `institution of higher education' has the
meaning given to such term in section 101 of the Higher
Education Act of 1965.
``(4) The term `local educational agency' has the meaning
given to such term in section 8101 of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965.
``(5) The term `State' includes the District of Columbia
and each territory or commonwealth of the United States.
``(j) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section,
there is authorized to be appropriated $55,000,000 for each of fiscal
years 2022 through 2032.''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
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