[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2862 Referred in Senate (RFS)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2862
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 13, 2021
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a
national suicide prevention media campaign, 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 ``Campaign to Prevent Suicide Act''.
SEC. 2. NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION LIFELINE.
Section 520E-3(b)(2) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C.
290bb-36c(b)(2)) is amended by inserting after ``suicide prevention
hotline'' the following: ``, under the universal telephone number
designated under section 251(e)(4) of the Communications Act of
1934,''.
SEC. 3. NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION MEDIA CAMPAIGN.
(a) National Suicide Prevention Media Campaign.--
(1) In general.--Not later than the date that is 3 years
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of
Health and Human Services (referred to in this section as the
``Secretary''), in consultation with the Assistant Secretary
for Mental Health and Substance Use (referred to in this
section as the ``Assistant Secretary'') and the Director of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (referred to in this
section as the ``Director''), shall conduct a national suicide
prevention media campaign (referred to in this section as the
``national media campaign''), in accordance with the
requirements of this section, for purposes of--
(A) preventing suicide in the United States;
(B) educating families, friends, and communities on
how to address suicide and suicidal thoughts, including
when to encourage individuals with suicidal risk to
seek help; and
(C) increasing awareness of suicide prevention
resources of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration (including the suicide
prevention hotline maintained under section 520E-3 of
the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb-36c)),
any suicide prevention mobile application of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the
Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration,
and other support resources determined appropriate by
the Secretary.
(2) Additional consultation.--In addition to consulting
with the Assistant Secretary and the Director under this
section, the Secretary shall consult with, as appropriate,
State, local, Tribal, and territorial health departments,
primary health care providers, hospitals with emergency
departments, mental and behavioral health services providers,
crisis response services providers, first responders, suicide
prevention and mental health professionals, patient advocacy
groups, survivors of suicide attempts, and representatives of
television and social media platforms in planning the national
media campaign to be conducted under paragraph (1).
(b) Target Audiences.--
(1) Tailoring advertisements and other communications.--In
conducting the national media campaign under subsection (a)(1),
the Secretary may tailor culturally competent advertisements
and other communications of the campaign across all available
media for a target audience (such as a particular geographic
location or demographic) across the lifespan.
(2) Targeting certain local areas.--The Secretary shall, to
the maximum extent practicable, use amounts made available
under subsection (f) for media that targets certain local areas
or populations at disproportionate risk for suicide.
(c) Use of Funds.--
(1) Required uses.--
(A) In general.--The Secretary shall, if reasonably
feasible with the funds made available under subsection
(f), carry out the following, with respect to the
national media campaign:
(i) Testing and evaluation of advertising.
(ii) Evaluation of the effectiveness of the
national media campaign.
(iii) Operational and management expenses.
(iv) The creation of an educational toolkit
for television and social media platforms to
use in discussing suicide and raising awareness
about how to prevent suicide.
(B) Specific requirements.--
(i) Testing and evaluation of
advertising.--In testing and evaluating
advertising under subparagraph (A)(i), the
Secretary shall test all advertisements after
use in the national media campaign to evaluate
the extent to which such advertisements have
been effective in carrying out the purposes of
the national media campaign.
(ii) Evaluation of effectiveness of
national media campaign.--In evaluating the
effectiveness of the national media campaign
under subparagraph (A)(ii), the Secretary shall
take into account--
(I) the number of unique calls that
are made to the suicide prevention
hotline maintained under section 520E-3
of the Public Health Service Act (42
U.S.C. 290bb-36c) and assess whether
there are any State and regional
variations with respect to the capacity
to answer such calls;
(II) the number of unique
encounters with suicide prevention and
support resources of the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention and the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration and assess
engagement with such suicide prevention
and support resources;
(III) whether the national media
campaign has contributed to increased
awareness that suicidal individuals
should be engaged, rather than ignored;
and
(IV) such other measures of
evaluation as the Secretary determines
are appropriate.
(2) Optional uses.--The Secretary may use amounts made
available under subsection (f) for the following, with respect
to the national media campaign:
(A) Partnerships with professional and civic
groups, community-based organizations, including faith-
based organizations, and Government or Tribal
organizations that the Secretary determines have
experience in suicide prevention, including the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
(B) Entertainment industry outreach, interactive
outreach, media projects and activities, public
information, news media outreach, outreach through
television programs, and corporate sponsorship and
participation.
(d) Prohibitions.--None of the amounts made available under
subsection (f) may be obligated or expended for any of the following:
(1) To supplant current suicide prevention campaigns.
(2) For partisan political purposes, or to express advocacy
in support of or to defeat any clearly identified candidate,
clearly identified ballot initiative, or clearly identified
legislative or regulatory proposal.
(e) Report to Congress.--Not later than 18 months after
implementation of the national media campaign has begun, the Secretary,
in coordination with the Assistant Secretary and the Director, shall,
with respect to the first year of the national media campaign, submit
to Congress a report that describes--
(1) the strategy of the national media campaign and whether
specific objectives of such campaign were accomplished,
including whether such campaign impacted the number of calls
made to lifeline crisis centers and the capacity of such
centers to manage such calls;
(2) steps taken to ensure that the national media campaign
operates in an effective and efficient manner consistent with
the overall strategy and focus of the national media campaign;
(3) plans to purchase advertising time and space;
(4) policies and practices implemented to ensure that
Federal funds are used responsibly to purchase advertising time
and space and eliminate the potential for waste, fraud, and
abuse; and
(5) all contracts entered into with a corporation, a
partnership, or an individual working on behalf of the national
media campaign.
(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--For purposes of carrying out
this section, there is authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for
each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026.
Passed the House of Representatives May 12, 2021.
Attest:
CHERYL L. JOHNSON,
Clerk.