II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4416 

To provide funding for the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use to award grants for the purpose of supporting virtual peer 

behavioral health support services, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 4, 2020 

Ms. CORTEZ MASTO introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

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

A BILL 

To provide funding for the Assistant Secretary for Mental 

Health and Substance Use to award grants for the purpose of supporting virtual peer behavioral health support 

services, 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 ‘‘Virtual Peer Support 

5 Act of 2020’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. VIRTUAL PLATFORMS FOR IN-PERSON PEER BE2 HAVIORAL HEALTH SUPPORT SERVICES. 

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

4 Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec5 retary’’), acting through the Assistant Secretary for Men6 tal Health and Substance Use, shall award grants on a 

7 competitive basis to eligible entities to— 

8 (1) transition in-person peer behavioral health 

9 support services to virtual platforms; or 

10 (2) expand and improve virtual peer behavioral 

11 health support services. 

12 (b) APPLICATION AND SELECTION PROCESS.— 

13 (1) APPLICATIONS.—An eligible entity seeking 

14 a grant under this section shall, as a condition for 

15 receiving such grant, submit an application to the 

16 Secretary at such time, in such manner, and con17 taining such information as the Secretary may rea18 sonably require. 

19 (2) SELECTION.— 

20 (A) RESERVATIONS.— 

21 (i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

22 reserve not less than 50 percent of the 

23 amount appropriated under subsection (f) 

24 for awarding grants under this section to 

25 eligible entities that are— 


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1 (I) community-based providers; 

2 or 

3 (II) Tribal communities in ac4 cordance with clause (ii). 

5 (ii) TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS.— 

6 (I) IN GENERAL.—Subject to 

7 subclause (II), of the amount reserved 

8 under clause (i), not less than 8 per9 cent shall be reserved for grants 

10 under this section to Tribal commu11 nities. 

12 (II) REMAINING AMOUNTS.—In 

13 the case that there are remaining 

14 funds after the reservation under sub15 clause (I) due to an insufficient num16 ber of Tribal communities that apply 

17 for a grant under this section, any 

18 such remaining funds shall be used to19 wards grants to community-based pro20 viders that serve Tribal communities. 

21 (B) MAXIMUM GEOGRAPHIC REPRESENTA22 TION.—Subject to subparagraph (A) and the el23 igible entities that submit applications under 

24 paragraph (1), in selecting eligible entities to 

25 receive grants under this section, the Secretary 


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1 shall, to the maximum extent possible, ensure 

2 that the residents of all States and Tribal com3 munities are served by at least 1 grant under 

4 this section. 

5 (c) USE OF FUNDS.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity receiving a 

7 grant under this section may use the funds awarded 

8 through such grant to— 

9 (A) carry out workforce development, re10 cruitment, and retention activities, to train, re11 cruit, and retain certified peer-support special12 ists; 

13 (B) transition a network of in-person, 

14 peer-facilitated behavioral health support serv15 ices to a virtual platform for such behavioral 

16 health support services; 

17 (C) expand or improve virtual, peer behav18 ioral health support services carried out by the 

19 entity prior to the date of enactment of this 

20 section; 

21 (D) adopt technologies to transition in-per22 son peer behavioral health support services to 

23 virtual peer behavioral health support services, 

24 including by acquiring— 


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1 (i) appropriate physical hardware for 

2 such virtual services; 

3 (ii) software and programs to effi4 ciently run peer support services virtually; 

5 and 

6 (iii) other technology for establishing 

7 virtual waiting rooms and virtual video 

8 platforms for meetings; 

9 (E)(i) provide multilingual virtual peer be10 havioral health support services as needed with11 in the community; and 

12 (ii) provide language access services, in13 cluding translation and interpretation services, 

14 with respect to virtual peer behavioral health 

15 support services to allow individuals with lim16 ited-English proficiency and individuals with 

17 disabilities to access such services; 

18 (F) provide targeted virtual peer behav19 ioral health support services to demographics 

20 such as— 

21 (i) those heavily impacted by the 

22 COVID–19 response such as clinicians, 

23 emergency service workers, nurses, and 

24 physicians; and 


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1 (ii) populations such as those who are 

2 high risk or potentially face barriers to 

3 care due to the pandemic, including vet4 erans, rural communities, seniors, youth, 

5 young adults, parents, and caregivers; 

6 (G) provide 1-on-1 peer support services 

7 when feasible to provide additional support to 

8 individuals; 

9 (H) increase awareness of peer support re10 sources in the community by conducting out11 reach and education including through webinars 

12 and podcasts; 

13 (I) provide funding for certification and 

14 salaries for certified peer-support specialists; 

15 (J) conduct research to demonstrate the 

16 efficacy of virtual peer support; and 

17 (K) provide funding for the staffing and 

18 administrative needs of the eligible entity to 

19 carry out virtual peer behavioral health support 

20 services for not less than 1 year. 

21 (2) REQUIREMENTS FOR SUPPORT SERVICES.— 

22 A behavioral health support service supported under 

23 this section shall— 

24 (A) be provided by a certified peer-support 

25 specialist; 


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1 (B) be provided at no cost to the recipients 

2 of such service; 

3 (C) incorporate promising or evidence4 based practices for providing peer behavioral 

5 health support to recipients; and 

6 (D) comply with the requirements for non7 discrimination under paragraph (3). 

8 (3) NONDISCRIMINATION.—No individual in the 

9 United States shall, on the basis of the actual or 

10 perceived race, color, national origin, sex (including 

11 sexual orientation and gender identity), age, lan12 guage proficiency, or disability of the individual be 

13 excluded from participation in, denied the benefits 

14 of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under 

15 any program or activity receiving any funding made 

16 available under subsection (f). 

17 (d) GRANT AMOUNT.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except for a grant described 

19 in subsection (b)(2)(A), each grant awarded under 

20 this section shall be in an amount of not less than 

21 $1,000,000. 

22 (2) COMMUNITY-BASED PROVIDERS AND TRIBAL

23 COMMUNITIES.—The Secretary shall determine an 

24 appropriate amount for each grant awarded under 


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1 subsection (b)(2)(A) to a community-based provider 

2 or Tribal community. 

3 (e) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after 

5 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

6 shall submit a report to the Committees described in 

7 paragraph (2) that includes an analysis of the out8 comes of the grants awarded under this section, 

9 such as outcomes measured by the level of participa10 tion in peer support services receiving funds under 

11 subsection (f), the development of a peer support12 specialist workforce, any barriers and challenges in 

13 developing recommendations to assist individuals in 

14 need of peer behavioral health support services, and 

15 any other measure determined appropriate by the 

16 Secretary. 

17 (2) COMMITTEES.—The Committees described 

18 in this paragraph are each of the following: 

19 (A) The Committee on Health, Education, 

20 Labor, and Pensions of the Senate. 

21 (B) The Committee on Finance of the Sen22 ate 

23 (C) The Committee on Energy and Com24 merce of the House of Representatives. 


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1 (D) The Committee on Ways and Means of 

2 the House of Representatives. 

3 (f) FUNDING.—There is appropriated, out of 

4 amounts in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to 

5 remain available until expended, $50,000,000 to carry out 

6 this section. 

7 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 (1) CERTIFIED PEER-SUPPORT SPECIALIST.— 

9 The term ‘‘certified peer-support specialist’’ means 

10 an individual who— 

11 (A) is a self-identified current or former 

12 recipient of behavioral health services who has 

13 the ability to support other individuals diag14 nosed with a mental illness or substance use 

15 disorder; and 

16 (B)(i) is certified in accordance with appli17 cable State law to provide peer support services 

18 in behavioral health settings; or 

19 (ii) is certified as qualified to furnish peer 

20 support services under a certification process 

21 consistent with the National Practice Guidelines 

22 for Peer Supporters and inclusive of the core 

23 competencies identified by the Substance Abuse 

24 and Mental Health Services Administration in 


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1 the Core Competencies for Peer Workers in Be2 havioral Health Settings. 

3 (2) COMMUNITY-BASED PROVIDER.—The term 

4 ‘‘community-based provider’’ means an eligible entity 

5 that is a consumer-controlled or consumer-run orga6 nization and is certified in accordance with applica7 ble State law to deliver peer support services at a 

8 State or local level, and not at the national level. 

9 (3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti10 ty’’ means a consumer-controlled or consumer-run 

11 organization, or a Tribal community, that— 

12 (A) facilitates evidence-informed peer be13 havioral health support services; 

14 (B) offers certified peer-support training; 

15 (C) prior to the public health emergency 

16 declared by the Secretary under section 319 of 

17 the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) 

18 on January 31, 2020, with respect to COVID– 

19 19, operated a network of in-person or virtual 

20 peer-facilitated behavioral health support serv21 ices or group meetings at no cost to the partici22 pants; and 

23 (D) has the capability to, or is able to 

24 show how it will have the capability to, launch 


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1 and support a virtual platform for peer behav2 ioral health support services. 

3 (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean4 ing given such term in section 2 of the Public 

5 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201). 

6 (5) TRIBAL COMMUNITY.—The term ‘‘Tribal 

7 community’’ means an Indian tribe, tribal organiza8 tion, or urban Indian organization, as such terms 

9 are defined in section 4 of the Indian Health Care 

10 Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 1603). 

Æ 


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