I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5411 

To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a Task 

Force on Local Mental Health Needs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 12, 2019 

Mr. HARDER of California introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to 

establish a Task Force on Local Mental Health Needs, 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Increasing Access to 

5 Mental Health Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TASK FORCE ON LOCAL MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 

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

9 Human Services shall establish a task force, to be known 

10 as the Task Force on Local Mental Health Needs— 


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1 (1) to analyze whether, notwithstanding section 

2 1115, section 1903(m)(7), paragraphs (14) and (16) 

3 of section 1905(a), and section 1915(l) of the Social 

4 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1315, 1396b(m)(7), 

5 1396d(a), 1396n), the prohibition on Federal finan6 cial participation under the Medicaid program under 

7 title XIX of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.) for 

8 items and services provided in a hospital, nursing fa9 cility, or other institution of more than 16 beds, that 

10 is primarily engaged in providing services described 

11 in section 1905(i) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1396d(i)) 

12 for persons with mental diseases, precludes political 

13 subdivisions of some States from meeting the mental 

14 health care needs of individuals residing in such po15 litical subdivision; 

16 (2) in the case of a political subdivision so pre17 cluded, to develop possible solutions for addressing 

18 such mental health needs; and 

19 (3) to identify best and sustainable practices 

20 described in paragraphs (3) through (7) of sub21 section (c). 

22 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The members of the Task Force 

23 task shall consist of the following: 


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1 (1) The Secretary of Health and Human Serv2 ices (or the Secretary’s designee), who shall serve as 

3 the Chair of the Task Force. 

4 (2) The Attorney General of the United States 

5 (or the Attorney General’s designee). 

6 (3) The Secretary of Labor (or the Secretary’s 

7 designee). 

8 (4) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs (or the 

9 Secretary’s designee). 

10 (5) The Director of the Office of National Drug 

11 Control Policy (or the Director’s designee). 

12 (6) The heads of such other Federal agencies 

13 and offices as may be appointed by the Secretary of 

14 Health and Human Services (or their designees). 

15 (7) The directors of State or county agencies or 

16 offices of behavioral health services as may be ap17 pointed by the Secretary of Health and Human 

18 Services (or their designees). 

19 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

20 of the initial meeting of the Task Force, the Secretary 

21 of Health and Human Services shall submit to Congress 

22 and make publicly available a final report of the Task 

23 Force that— 

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1 divisions of some States from meeting the mental 

2 health care needs of individuals residing in such po3 litical subdivision; 

4 (2) in the case of a political subdivision so pre5 cluded, recommends possible solutions for addressing 

6 such mental health needs, including a recommended 

7 bed capacity number; 

8 (3) identifies best practices for compliance with 

9 the recommendations developed by the Task Force; 

10 (4) identifies sustainable practices for helping 

11 to provide services to transition individuals from 

12 mental health services to sustainable recovery serv13 ices, including identifying workforce and housing op14 portunities; 

15 (5) identifies best practices to coordinate men16 tal health service providers and public service agen17 cies with local law enforcement agencies to address 

18 issues like homelessness; 

19 (6) identifies best practices that are used by 

20 mental health service providers to handle patient dis21 charge planning, including linkage with community 

22 services and support; 

23 (7) identifies best practices that advance parity 

24 in mental health and substance use disorder treat25 ment; and 


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1 (8) provides an analysis for alternatives to a 

2 bed capacity number, such as a time limit for Fed3 eral reimbursement for facilities or a time limit for 

4 patient stays in treatment. 

5 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

6 (1) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of 

7 the 50 States. 

8 (2) TASK FORCE.—The term ‘‘Task Force’’ 

9 means the Task Force on Local Mental Health 

10 Needs established pursuant to this section. 

11 SEC. 3. MODERN MENTAL HEALTH FUND GRANT PROGRAM. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award grants 

13 to 10 eligible entities to coordinate mental health care 

14 services with qualified community entities described in 

15 subsection (d). 

16 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—To seek a grant under this sec17 tion, an entity shall— 

18 (1) be— 

19 (A) a psychiatric health facility; or 

20 (B) an institution for mental disease; and 

21 (2) submit an application to the Secretary at 

22 such time, in such manner, and containing such in23 formation as the Secretary may require. 

24 (c) GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY.—In awarding grants 

25 under this section, the Secretary of Health and Human 


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1 Services shall ensure there is geographic diversity across 

2 the grantees. 

3 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 (1) The term ‘‘institution for mental diseases’’ 

5 has the meaning given to that term in section 

6 1905(i) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

7 1396d(i)). 

8 (2) The term ‘‘qualified community entity’’ 

9 means an entity that meets at least one of the fol10 lowing: 

11 (A) The entity can ensure that case man12 agement provided by the entity working with a 

13 grantee under this section does not exceed a 

14 ratio of 1 caseworker to 20 cases. 

15 (B) The entity demonstrates the capacity 

16 to provide services to address mental health, 

17 substance use disorders and recovery services, 

18 disabling or other chronic health conditions, 

19 educational and job training or employment 

20 outcomes, and life skills needs (including finan21 cial literacy). 

22 (C) The entity can ensure stable housing, 

23 intensive case management, and comprehensive 

24 services that include, at minimum, mental 

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1 ment and recovery services, education and job 

2 training, age-appropriate services for children, 

3 and life skills training (such as financial lit4 eracy training). 

5 (D) The entity can coordinate with local 

6 law enforcement, courts (including specialized 

7 courts), probation, and other public services 

8 agencies to conduct outreach and better identify 

9 at-risk or homeless populations that would ben10 efit from services offered by the entity. 

11 (E) The entity can coordinate with a con12 gressionally chartered veterans service organiza13 tion, a State, local, or Tribal veterans service 

14 agency, or a nonprofit organization that has 

15 historically served veterans’ housing needs. 

16 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To carry 

17 out this section, there is authorized to be appropriated 

18 $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2021 and each subsequent fis19 cal year. 

Æ 


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