II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4093 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the establishment 

or operation of a center to be known as the Emergency Mental Health 

and Substance Use Training and Technical Assistance Center. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 29, 2020 

Ms. SMITH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for 

the establishment or operation of a center to be known 

as the Emergency Mental Health and Substance Use 

Training and Technical Assistance Center. 

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 ‘‘Emergency Support 

5 for Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health Services 

6 Act’’. 


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•S 4093 IS

1 SEC. 2. EMERGENCY MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE 

2 USE TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE 

3 CENTER. 

4 Subpart 3 of part B of title V of the Public Health 

5 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb–31 et seq.) is amended by 

6 inserting after section 520A (42 U.S.C. 290bb–32) the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 520B. EMERGENCY MENTAL HEALTH AND SUB9 STANCE USE TRAINING AND TECHNICAL AS10 SISTANCE CENTER. 

11 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary, acting 

12 through the Assistant Secretary, shall establish or operate 

13 a center to be known as the Emergency Mental Health 

14 and Substance Use Training and Technical Assistance 

15 Center (referred to in this section as the ‘Center’) to pro16 vide technical assistance and support— 

17 ‘‘(1) to public or nonprofit entities seeking to 

18 establish or expand access to mental health and sub19 stance use prevention, treatment, and recovery sup20 port services, and increase awareness of such serv21 ices; and 

22 ‘‘(2) to public health professionals, health care 

23 professionals and support staff, essential workers (as 

24 defined by a State, Tribe, locality, or territory), and 

25 members of the public to address the trauma, stress, 


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1 and mental health needs associated with an emer2 gency period. 

3 ‘‘(b) ASSISTANCE AND SUPPORT.—The assistance 

4 and support provided under subsection (a) shall include 

5 assistance and support with respect to— 

6 ‘‘(1) training on identifying signs of trauma, 

7 stress, and mental health needs; 

8 ‘‘(2) providing accessible resources to assist in9 dividuals and families experiencing trauma, stress, 

10 or other mental health needs during and after an 

11 emergency period; 

12 ‘‘(3) providing resources for substance use dis13 order prevention, treatment, and recovery designed 

14 to assist individuals and families during and after an 

15 emergency period; 

16 ‘‘(4) the provision of language access services, 

17 including translation services, interpretation, or 

18 other such services for individuals with limited 

19 English speaking proficiency or individuals with dis20 abilities; and 

21 ‘‘(5) evaluation and improvement, as necessary, 

22 of the effectiveness of such services provided by pub23 lic or nonprofit entities. 

24 ‘‘(c) BEST PRACTICES.—The Center shall periodi25 cally issue best practices for use by organizations seeking 


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•S 4093 IS

1 to provide mental health services or substance use disorder 

2 prevention, treatment, or recovery services. 

3 ‘‘(d) EMERGENCY PERIOD.—In this section, the term 

4 ‘emergency period’ has the meaning given such term in 

5 section 1135(g)(1)(A) of the Social Security Act. 

6 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

7 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

8 $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 and 2021.’’. 

Æ 


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