← Back to Bill Feed
FederalIn Committee
DHS Suicide Prevention and Resiliency for Law Enforcement Act
Introduced Apr 13, 2023 · Last action Oct 2, 2023 — Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 189.
Track this bill
Save bills and get alerts when status changes.
Sign in to saved bills.
Summary
This legislation is called the DHS Suicide Prevention and Resiliency for Law Enforcement Act. Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 189.
Full bill text
[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2577 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2577
To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish the Law
Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Program, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 13, 2023
Mr. Thompson of Mississippi (for himself and Mr. Garbarino) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland
Security
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish the Law
Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Program, 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 ``DHS Suicide Prevention and
Resiliency for Law Enforcement Act''.
SEC. 2. DHS SUICIDE PREVENTION AND RESILIENCY FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT.
(a) In General.--The Homeland Security Act of 2002 is amended by
inserting after section 710 the following new section:
``SEC. 710A. SUICIDE PREVENTION AND RESILIENCY FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT.
``(a) Department Components Defined.--In this section, the term
`Department components' means the following:
``(1) U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
``(2) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
``(3) The Office of the Inspector General of the Department
of Homeland Security.
``(4) The United States Secret Service.
``(5) The Transportation Security Administration.
``(6) Any other Department component with law enforcement
officers or agents.
``(b) Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Program.--
``(1) Establishment.--
``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall establish,
within the office overseen by the Chief Medical Officer
of the Department, the Law Enforcement Mental Health
and Wellness Program (in this section referred to as
the `Program').
``(B) Purpose.--The purpose of the Program shall be
to provide a comprehensive approach to address the
mental health and wellness of Department law
enforcement officers and agents.
``(C) Administration.--The Secretary, working
through the Program, shall--
``(i) establish and maintain policies and
standard operating procedures, consistent with
best evidence-based practices, that detail the
authority, roles, and responsibilities of the
Program;
``(ii) conduct data collection and research
on mental health, suicides, and, to the extent
possible, attempted suicides, of Department law
enforcement officers and agents, in accordance
with section 552a of title 5, United States
Code (commonly known as the Privacy Act of
1974), section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of
1973 (29 U.S.C. 791), the Department's
directives and policies, and section 2(a) of
the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act
(Public Law 116-143);
``(iii) track current trends and leading
practices from other governmental and
nongovernmental organizations for law
enforcement mental health and wellness;
``(iv) evaluate current mental health and
resiliency programs within the Department
components;
``(v) promote education and training
related to mental health, resilience, suicide
prevention, stigma, and mental health resources
to raise mental health awareness, and provide
support to others, inclusive of the needs of
supervisors, clinicians, care-givers, peer
support members, chaplains, and those who have
been exposed to trauma;
``(vi) establish a Peer-to-Peer Support
Program Advisory Council, which shall--
``(I) include at least one licensed
clinician and at least one official
with requisite and relevant training
and experience in peer support from
each Department component;
``(II) evaluate component peer
support programs;
``(III) identify and address any
potential deficiencies, limitations,
and gaps;
``(IV) provide for sharing of
leading practices or best practices,
including internationally recognized
peer support standards of care
protocols;
``(V) create a peer support network
that enables the sharing of trained
peer support personnel, chaplains, and
other peer-to-peer personnel across
Department components; and
``(VI) sustain peer support
programs through ongoing funding of
annual and refresher training and
resources for peer support programing
in the workplace to--
``(aa) ensure minimum
standards for peer support
services; and
``(bb) provide appropriate
care for peer support personnel
across Department components;
``(vii) assist Department components in
developing a program to provide suicide
prevention and resiliency support and training
for--
``(I) families of Department law
enforcement officers and agents; and
``(II) surviving families of
officers and agents who have been lost
to suicide;
``(viii) work with law enforcement mental
health and wellness program officials of
Department components (including peer support-
trained personnel, agency mental health
professionals, chaplains, and, for components
with employees having an exclusive
representative, the exclusive representative
with respect to such program) to implement new
policies, procedures, and programs that may be
necessary based on findings from data
collection, research, and evaluation efforts;
and
``(ix) conduct regular outreach and
messaging, across Department components, of
available training opportunities and resources.
``(D) Confidentiality; limitation.--
``(i) Confidentiality.--Activities
described in subparagraph (C) may not include
the publication of any personally identifiable
information.
``(ii) Limitation.--Personally identifiable
information collected pursuant to subparagraph
(C) may not be maintained or used for any
purpose other than implementation of this
section, unless otherwise permitted under
applicable law. Any such personally
identifiable information that is so collected,
maintained, or used pursuant to this section is
subject to applicable public nondisclosure
requirements, including sections 552 and 552a
of title 5, United States Code.
``(E) Personnel.--
``(i) Management.--The Workplace Health and
Wellness Coordinator of the Department, under
the direction of the Chief Medical Officer of
the Department, shall be responsible for the
ongoing management of the Program.
``(ii) Minimum core personnel
requirements.--Subject to appropriations, the
Secretary shall ensure the Program is staffed
with the number of employees the Chief Medical
Officer of the Department determines necessary
to carry out the duties described in
subparagraph (C), including representatives
from each Department component and the Office
of the Chief Privacy Officer.
``(2) Directive.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this section, the Chief Medical Officer of the
Department shall--
``(A) issue a directive or policy that outlines the
roles and responsibilities of the Program; and
``(B) distribute such directive or policy among all
Department personnel.
``(c) Coordination.--The Chief Medical Officer of the Department
shall require the Program to regularly coordinate with the Department
components by assigning at least one official from each such component
to the Program for the purpose of coordinating with field points of
contact who are responsible for carrying out duties within Department
mental health and wellness programs.
``(d) Department Components.--The Secretary shall require the head
of each Department component to prioritize and improve mental health
and wellness programs that--
``(1) provide adequate resources for law enforcement mental
health, well-being, resilience, and suicide prevention programs
and research;
``(2) promote a culture that reduces the stigma of seeking
mental health assistance through regular messaging, training,
and raising mental health awareness;
``(3) offer several avenues of seeking mental health or
counseling assistance, both within the component and through
private sources that provide for anonymity and include access
to external mental health clinicians;
``(4) review and revise relevant policies of Department
components that inadvertently deter personnel from seeking
mental health or counseling assistance;
``(5) ensure that such programs include safeguards against
adverse action, including automatic referrals for a fitness for
duty examination, by such component with respect to any
employee solely because such employee self-identifies a need
for psychological health counseling or assistance or receives
such counseling or assistance;
``(6) implement policies that require in-person or live and
interactive virtual suicide awareness and law enforcement
resiliency trainings to be provided to law enforcement officers
and agents;
``(7) makes such trainings available, as appropriate, to
other component personnel--
``(A) upon the commencement of such officers',
agents', and other component's personnel's employment;
``(B) on an annual basis during such employment;
``(C) during such officers', agents', or other
component's personnel's transition into supervisory
roles; and
``(D) if feasible, shortly before such officer,
agent, or other component's personnel terminates his or
her employment with the Department, if such officer,
agent, or other component's personnel elects to
participate; and
``(8) include prevention and awareness training
opportunities and support services for families of agents,
officers, and other component personnel.
``(e) Data Collection and Evaluation.--
``(1) Assessment of effectiveness of law enforcement health
and wellness programs.--The Workplace Health and Wellness
Coordinator, under the direction of the Chief Medical Officer
of the Department--
``(A) shall--
``(i) develop criteria to assess the
effectiveness of law enforcement health and
wellness programs carried out by the
Department;
``(ii) conduct annual confidential surveys
of law enforcement officers and agents within
Department components to assist in evaluating
the effectiveness of law enforcement health and
wellness programs in accordance with the
criteria developed pursuant to clause (i); and
``(iii) ensure that the surveys conducted
pursuant to clause (ii)--
``(I) incorporate leading practices
in questionnaire and survey design and
development; and
``(II) establish a baseline and
subsequently measure change over time;
and
``(B) may utilize contractor support in carrying
out the duties described in subparagraph (A).
``(2) Recommendations.--The Chief Medical Officer of the
Department shall provide recommendations to Department
components based on the evaluation of programs and the results
of the surveys conducted pursuant to paragraph (1).
``(3) Incident reports.--Each Department component shall
report to the Workplace Health and Wellness Coordinator
incidents of suicide involving law enforcement officers and
agents, together with any data relating thereto consistent with
data collected under section 2(a) of the Law Enforcement
Suicide Data Collection Act (Public Law 116-143). The
Coordinator shall forward such information to the Law
Enforcement Officers Suicide Data Collection Program
established pursuant to such section.
``(4) Confidentiality; limitation.--
``(A) Confidentiality.--Activities described in
paragraph (1) or reporting described under paragraph
(3) may not include the publication of any personally
identifiable information.
``(B) Limitation.--Personally identifiable
information collected pursuant to paragraph (1) may not
be maintained or used for any purpose other than
implementation of this section, unless otherwise
permitted under applicable law. Any such personally
identifiable information that is so collected,
maintained, or used pursuant to this section is subject
to applicable public nondisclosure requirements,
including sections 552 and 552a of title 5, United
States Code.
``(f) Briefing.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this section and annually thereafter through fiscal year
2027, the Chief Medical Officer of the Department shall provide to the
Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and the
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a
briefing regarding the implementation of this section.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 1(b) of
the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is amended by inserting after the
item relating to section 710 the following new item:
``Sec. 710A. Suicide prevention and resiliency for law enforcement.''.
<all>Official legislative text sourced from the public record (cached on CivicsHQ).
Official source
View the original bill, actions, and full legislative record on Congress.gov.
Status
In Committee
- 1Introduced
- 2Committee
- 3Floor
- 4Passed
- 5Signed
Timeline reflects current normalized status only. Full action history is not yet stored in the API.
Sponsors
Cosponsors
- Rep. Case, Ed [D-HI-1]
- Rep. Fitzpatrick, Brian K. [R-PA-1]
- Rep. Garbarino, Andrew R. [R-NY-2]
- Rep. Higgins, Brian [D-NY-26]
- Rep. Ivey, Glenn [D-MD-4]
- Rep. Menendez, Robert [D-NJ-8]
- Rep. Ross, Deborah K. [D-NC-2]
- Rep. Scanlon, Mary Gay [D-PA-5]
- Rep. Thanedar, Shri [D-MI-13]
- Rep. Titus, Dina [D-NV-1]
- Rep. Tokuda, Jill N. [D-HI-2]
- Rep. Trone, David J. [D-MD-6]
- Rep. Vasquez, Gabe [D-NM-2]
- Rep. Wasserman Schultz, Debbie [D-FL-25]
- Sen. Kim, Andy [D-NJ]
Votes
Voting records are not yet available for this bill.