IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5469 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 30 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 29), 2020 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

AN ACT 

To address mental health issues for youth, particularly youth 

of color, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pursuing Equity in 

3 Mental Health Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

5 The table of contents for this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title. 

Sec. 2. Table of contents. 

TITLE I—HEALTH EQUITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY 

Sec. 101. Integrated Health Care Demonstration Program. 

Sec. 102. Addressing racial and ethnic minority mental health disparities research gaps. 

Sec. 103. Health professions competencies to address racial and ethnic minority 

mental health disparities. 

Sec. 104. Racial and ethnic minority behavioral and mental health outreach and 

education strategy. 

Sec. 105. Additional funds for National Institutes of Health. 

Sec. 106. Additional funds for National Institute on Minority Health and 

Health Disparities. 

TITLE II—OTHER PROVISIONS 

Sec. 201. Reauthorization of Minority Fellowship Program. 

Sec. 202. Study on the Effects of Smartphone and Social Media Use on Adolescents. 

Sec. 203. Technical correction. 

6 TITLE I—HEALTH EQUITY AND 

7 ACCOUNTABILITY 

8 SEC. 101. INTEGRATED HEALTH CARE DEMONSTRATION 

9 PROGRAM. 

10 Part D of title V of the Public Health Service Act 

11 (42 U.S.C. 290dd et seq.) is amended by adding at the 

12 end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 554. INTERPROFESSIONAL HEALTH CARE TEAMS FOR 

2 PROVISION OF BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CARE 

3 IN PRIMARY CARE SETTINGS. 

4 ‘‘(a) GRANTS.—The Secretary shall award grants to 

5 eligible entities for the purpose of establishing interprofes6 sional health care teams that provide behavioral health 

7 care. 

8 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive 

9 a grant under this section, an entity shall be a Federally 

10 qualified health center (as defined in section 1861(aa) of 

11 the Social Security Act), rural health clinic, or behavioral 

12 health program, serving a high proportion of individuals 

13 from racial and ethnic minority groups (as defined in sec14 tion 1707(g)). 

15 ‘‘(c) SCIENTIFICALLY BASED.—Integrated health 

16 care funded through this section shall be scientifically 

17 based, taking into consideration the results of the most 

18 recent peer-reviewed research available. 

19 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 

20 carry out this section, there is authorized to be appro21 priated $20,000,000 for each of the first 5 fiscal years 

22 following the date of enactment of the Pursuing Equity 

23 in Mental Health Act.’’. 


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1 SEC. 102. ADDRESSING RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITY 

2 MENTAL HEALTH DISPARITIES RESEARCH 

3 GAPS. 

4 Not later than 6 months after the date of the enact5 ment of this Act, the Director of the National Institutes 

6 of Health shall enter into an arrangement with the Na7 tional Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 

8 (or, if the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, 

9 and Medicine decline to enter into such an arrangement, 

10 the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, the 

11 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, or another 

12 appropriate entity)— 

13 (1) to conduct a study with respect to mental 

14 health disparities in racial and ethnic minority 

15 groups (as defined in section 1707(g) of the Public 

16 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300u–6(g))); and 

17 (2) to submit to the Congress a report on the 

18 results of such study, including— 

19 (A) a compilation of information on the dy20 namics of mental disorders in such racial and 

21 ethnic minority groups; and 

22 (B) a compilation of information on the 

23 impact of exposure to community violence, ad24 verse childhood experiences, structural racism, 

25 and other psychological traumas on mental dis26 orders in such racial and minority groups. 


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1 SEC. 103. HEALTH PROFESSIONS COMPETENCIES TO AD2 DRESS RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITY MEN3 TAL HEALTH DISPARITIES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 

5 Human Services shall award grants to qualified national 

6 organizations for the purposes of— 

7 (1) developing, and disseminating to health pro8 fessional educational programs best practices or core 

9 competencies addressing mental health disparities 

10 among racial and ethnic minority groups for use in 

11 the training of students in the professions of social 

12 work, psychology, psychiatry, marriage and family 

13 therapy, mental health counseling, and substance 

14 misuse counseling; and 

15 (2) certifying community health workers and 

16 peer wellness specialists with respect to such best 

17 practices and core competencies and integrating and 

18 expanding the use of such workers and specialists 

19 into health care to address mental health disparities 

20 among racial and ethnic minority groups. 

21 (b) BEST PRACTICES; CORE COMPETENCIES.—Orga22 nizations receiving funds under subsection (a) may use the 

23 funds to engage in the following activities related to the 

24 development and dissemination of best practices or core 

25 competencies described in subsection (a)(1): 


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1 (1) Formation of committees or working groups 

2 comprised of experts from accredited health profes3 sions schools to identify best practices and core com4 petencies relating to mental health disparities among 

5 racial and ethnic minority groups. 

6 (2) Planning of workshops in national fora to 

7 allow for public input into the educational needs as8 sociated with mental health disparities among racial 

9 and ethnic minority groups. 

10 (3) Dissemination and promotion of the use of 

11 best practices or core competencies in undergraduate 

12 and graduate health professions training programs 

13 nationwide. 

14 (4) Establishing external stakeholder advisory 

15 boards to provide meaningful input into policy and 

16 program development and best practices to reduce 

17 mental health disparities among racial and ethnic 

18 minority groups. 

19 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

20 (1) QUALIFIED NATIONAL ORGANIZATION.—The 

21 term ‘‘qualified national organization’’ means a na22 tional organization that focuses on the education of 

23 students in one or more of the professions of social 

24 work, psychology, psychiatry, marriage and family 


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1 therapy, mental health counseling, and substance 

2 misuse counseling. 

3 (2) RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITY GROUP.— 

4 The term ‘‘racial and ethnic minority group’’ has the 

5 meaning given to such term in section 1707(g) of 

6 the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300u– 

7 6(g)). 

8 SEC. 104. RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITY BEHAVIORAL 

9 AND MENTAL HEALTH OUTREACH AND EDU10 CATION STRATEGY. 

11 Part D of title V of the Public Health Service Act 

12 (42 U.S.C. 290dd et seq.), as amended by section 101, 

13 is further amended by adding at the end the following new 

14 section: 

15 ‘‘SEC. 555. BEHAVIORAL AND MENTAL HEALTH OUTREACH 

16 AND EDUCATION STRATEGY. 

17 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, in consulta18 tion with advocacy and behavioral and mental health orga19 nizations serving racial and ethnic minority groups, de20 velop and implement an outreach and education strategy 

21 to promote behavioral and mental health and reduce stig22 ma associated with mental health conditions and sub23 stance abuse among racial and ethnic minority groups. 

24 Such strategy shall— 

25 ‘‘(1) be designed to— 


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1 ‘‘(A) meet the diverse cultural and lan2 guage needs of the various racial and ethnic mi3 nority groups; and 

4 ‘‘(B) be developmentally and age-appro5 priate; 

6 ‘‘(2) increase awareness of symptoms of mental 

7 illnesses common among such groups, taking into 

8 account differences within at-risk subgroups; 

9 ‘‘(3) provide information on evidence-based, cul10 turally and linguistically appropriate and adapted 

11 interventions and treatments; 

12 ‘‘(4) ensure full participation of, and engage, 

13 both consumers and community members in the de14 velopment and implementation of materials; and 

15 ‘‘(5) seek to broaden the perspective among 

16 both individuals in these groups and stakeholders 

17 serving these groups to use a comprehensive public 

18 health approach to promoting behavioral health that 

19 addresses a holistic view of health by focusing on the 

20 intersection between behavioral and physical health. 

21 ‘‘(b) REPORTS.—Beginning not later than 1 year 

22 after the date of the enactment of this section and annu23 ally thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to Congress, 

24 and make publicly available, a report on the extent to 

25 which the strategy developed and implemented under subVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:56 Oct 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5469.RFS H5469

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1 section (a) increased behavioral and mental health out2 comes associated with mental health conditions and sub3 stance abuse among racial and ethnic minority groups. 

4 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘racial 

5 and ethnic minority group’ has the meaning given to that 

6 term in section 1707(g). 

7 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

8 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

9 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025.’’. 

10 SEC. 105. ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR NATIONAL INSTITUTES 

11 OF HEALTH. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—In addition to amounts otherwise 

13 authorized to be appropriated to the National Institutes 

14 of Health, there is authorized to be appropriated to such 

15 Institutes $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 

16 through 2025 to build relations with communities and con17 duct or support clinical research, including clinical re18 search on racial or ethnic disparities in physical and men19 tal health. 

20 (b) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘clinical 

21 research’’ has the meaning given to such term in section 

22 409 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 284d). 


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1 SEC. 106. ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR NATIONAL INSTITUTE 

2 ON MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARI3 TIES. 

4 In addition to amounts otherwise authorized to be ap5 propriated to the National Institute on Minority Health 

6 and Health Disparities, there is authorized to be appro7 priated to such Institute $650,000,000 for each of fiscal 

8 years 2021 through 2025. 

9 TITLE II—OTHER PROVISIONS 

10 SEC. 201. REAUTHORIZATION OF MINORITY FELLOWSHIP 

11 PROGRAM. 

12 Section 597(c) of the Public Health Service Act (42 

13 U.S.C. 297ll(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘$12,669,000 for 

14 each of fiscal years 2018 through 2022’’ and inserting 

15 ‘‘$25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 

16 2025’’. 

17 SEC. 202. STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF SMARTPHONE AND 

18 SOCIAL MEDIA USE ON ADOLESCENTS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

20 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and 

21 Human Services shall conduct or support research on— 

22 (1) smartphone and social media use by adoles23 cents; and 

24 (2) the effects of such use on— 

25 (A) emotional, behavioral, and physical 

26 health and development; and 


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1 (B) disparities in minority and under2 served populations. 

3 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 5 years after the date 

4 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 

5 to the Congress, and make publicly available, a report on 

6 the findings of research described in this section. 

7 SEC. 203. TECHNICAL CORRECTION. 

8 Title V of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 

9 290aa et seq.) is amended— 

10 (1) by redesignating the second section 550 (42 

11 U.S.C. 290ee–10) (relating to Sobriety Treatment 

12 And Recovery Teams) as section 553; and 

13 (2) by moving such section, as so redesignated, 

14 so as to appear after section 552 (42 U.S.C. 290ee– 

15 7). 

Passed the House of Representatives September 29, 

2020. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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