IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1109 

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 amend the Public Health Service Act to revise and extend 

projects relating to children and to provide access to 

school-based comprehensive mental health programs. 

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


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
2 

HR 1109 RFS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mental Health Services 

3 for Students Act of 2020’’. 

4 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE 

5 ACT. 

6 (a) TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.—The second part G 

7 (relating to services provided through religious organiza8 tions) of title V of the Public Health Service Act (42 

9 U.S.C. 290kk et seq.) is amended— 

10 (1) by redesignating such part as part J; and 

11 (2) by redesignating sections 581 through 584 

12 as sections 596 through 596C, respectively. 

13 (b) SCHOOL-BASED MENTAL HEALTH AND CHIL14 DREN.—Section 581 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

15 U.S.C. 290hh) (relating to children and violence) is 

16 amended to read as follows: 

17 ‘‘SEC. 581. SCHOOL-BASED MENTAL HEALTH; CHILDREN 

18 AND ADOLESCENTS. 

19 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consultation 

20 with the Secretary of Education, shall, through grants, 

21 contracts, or cooperative agreements awarded to eligible 

22 entities described in subsection (c), provide comprehensive 

23 school-based mental health services and supports to assist 

24 children in local communities and schools (including 

25 schools funded by the Bureau of Indian Education) deal26 ing with traumatic experiences, grief, bereavement, risk of 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
3 

HR 1109 RFS

1 suicide, and violence. Such services and supports shall 

2 be— 

3 ‘‘(1) developmentally, linguistically, and cul4 turally appropriate; 

5 ‘‘(2) trauma-informed; and 

6 ‘‘(3) incorporate positive behavioral interven7 tions and supports. 

8 ‘‘(b) ACTIVITIES.—Grants, contracts, or cooperative 

9 agreements awarded under subsection (a), shall, as appro10 priate, be used for— 

11 ‘‘(1) implementation of school and community12 based mental health programs that— 

13 ‘‘(A) build awareness of individual trauma 

14 and the intergenerational, continuum of impacts 

15 of trauma on populations; 

16 ‘‘(B) train appropriate staff to identify, 

17 and screen for, signs of trauma exposure, men18 tal health disorders, or risk of suicide; and 

19 ‘‘(C) incorporate positive behavioral inter20 ventions, family engagement, student treatment, 

21 and multigenerational supports to foster the 

22 health and development of children, prevent 

23 mental health disorders, and ameliorate the im24 pact of trauma; 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
4 

HR 1109 RFS

1 ‘‘(2) technical assistance to local communities 

2 with respect to the development of programs de3 scribed in paragraph (1); 

4 ‘‘(3) facilitating community partnerships among 

5 families, students, law enforcement agencies, edu6 cation agencies, mental health and substance use 

7 disorder service systems, family-based mental health 

8 service systems, child welfare agencies, health care 

9 providers (including primary care physicians, mental 

10 health professionals, and other professionals who 

11 specialize in children’s mental health such as child 

12 and adolescent psychiatrists), institutions of higher 

13 education, faith-based programs, trauma networks, 

14 and other community-based systems to address child 

15 and adolescent trauma, mental health issues, and vi16 olence; and 

17 ‘‘(4) establishing mechanisms for children and 

18 adolescents to report incidents of violence or plans 

19 by other children, adolescents, or adults to commit 

20 violence. 

21 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible for a grant, 

23 contract, or cooperative agreement under subsection 

24 (a), an entity shall be a partnership that includes— 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
5 

HR 1109 RFS

1 ‘‘(A) a State educational agency, as de2 fined in section 8101 of the Elementary and 

3 Secondary Education Act of 1965, in coordina4 tion with one or more local educational agen5 cies, as defined in section 8101 of the Elemen6 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, or 

7 a consortium of any entities described in sub8 paragraph (B), (C), (D), or (E) of section 

9 8101(30) of such Act; and 

10 ‘‘(B) at least 1 community-based mental 

11 health provider, including a public or private 

12 mental health entity, health care entity, family13 based mental health entity, trauma network, or 

14 other community-based entity, as determined by 

15 the Secretary (and which may include addi16 tional entities such as a human services agency, 

17 law enforcement or juvenile justice entity, child 

18 welfare agency, agency, an institution of higher 

19 education, or another entity, as determined by 

20 the Secretary). 

21 ‘‘(2) COMPLIANCE WITH HIPAA.—Any patient 

22 records developed by covered entities through activi23 ties under the grant shall meet the regulations pro24 mulgated under section 264(c) of the Health Insur25 ance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
6 

HR 1109 RFS

1 ‘‘(3) COMPLIANCE WITH FERPA.—Section 444 

2 of the General Education Provisions Act (commonly 

3 known as the ‘Family Educational Rights and Pri4 vacy Act of 1974’) shall apply to any entity that is 

5 a member of the partnership in the same manner 

6 that such section applies to an educational agency or 

7 institution (as that term is defined in such section). 

8 ‘‘(d) GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.—The Secretary 

9 shall ensure that grants, contracts, or cooperative agree10 ments under subsection (a) will be distributed equitably 

11 among the regions of the country and among urban and 

12 rural areas. 

13 ‘‘(e) DURATION OF AWARDS.—With respect to a 

14 grant, contract, or cooperative agreement under sub15 section (a), the period during which payments under such 

16 an award will be made to the recipient shall be 5 years, 

17 with options for renewal. 

18 ‘‘(f) EVALUATION AND MEASURES OF OUTCOMES.— 

19 ‘‘(1) DEVELOPMENT OF PROCESS.—The Assist20 ant Secretary shall develop a fiscally appropriate 

21 process for evaluating activities carried out under 

22 this section. Such process shall include— 

23 ‘‘(A) the development of guidelines for the 

24 submission of program data by grant, contract, 

25 or cooperative agreement recipients; 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
7 

HR 1109 RFS

1 ‘‘(B) the development of measures of out2 comes (in accordance with paragraph (2)) to be 

3 applied by such recipients in evaluating pro4 grams carried out under this section; and 

5 ‘‘(C) the submission of annual reports by 

6 such recipients concerning the effectiveness of 

7 programs carried out under this section. 

8 ‘‘(2) MEASURES OF OUTCOMES.—The Assistant 

9 Secretary shall develop measures of outcomes to be 

10 applied by recipients of assistance under this section 

11 to evaluate the effectiveness of programs carried out 

12 under this section, including outcomes related to the 

13 student, family, and local educational systems sup14 ported by this Act. 

15 ‘‘(3) SUBMISSION OF ANNUAL DATA.—An eligi16 ble entity described in subsection (c) that receives a 

17 grant, contract, or cooperative agreement under this 

18 section shall annually submit to the Assistant Sec19 retary a report that includes data to evaluate the 

20 success of the program carried out by the entity 

21 based on whether such program is achieving the pur22 poses of the program. Such reports shall utilize the 

23 measures of outcomes under paragraph (2) in a rea24 sonable manner to demonstrate the progress of the 

25 program in achieving such purposes. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
8 

HR 1109 RFS

1 ‘‘(4) EVALUATION BY ASSISTANT SECRETARY.— 

2 Based on the data submitted under paragraph (3), 

3 the Assistant Secretary shall annually submit to 

4 Congress a report concerning the results and effec5 tiveness of the programs carried out with assistance 

6 received under this section. 

7 ‘‘(5) LIMITATION.—An eligible entity shall use 

8 not more than 20 percent of amounts received under 

9 a grant under this section to carry out evaluation 

10 activities under this subsection. 

11 ‘‘(g) INFORMATION AND EDUCATION.—The Sec12 retary shall disseminate best practices based on the find13 ings of the knowledge development and application under 

14 this section. 

15 ‘‘(h) AMOUNT OF GRANTS AND AUTHORIZATION OF

16 APPROPRIATIONS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) AMOUNT OF GRANTS.—A grant under this 

18 section shall be in an amount that is not more than 

19 $2,000,000 for each of the first 5 fiscal years fol20 lowing the date of enactment of the Mental Health 

21 Services for Students Act of 2019. The Secretary 

22 shall determine the amount of each such grant based 

23 on the population of children up to age 21 of the 

24 area to be served under the grant. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
9 

HR 1109 RFS

1 ‘‘(2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

2 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

3 this section, $130,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

4 2021 through 2024.’’. 

5 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Part G of title V of 

6 the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290hh et seq.), 

7 as amended by subsection (b), is further amended by strik8 ing the part designation and heading and inserting the 

9 following: 

10 ‘‘PART G—SCHOOL-BASED MENTAL HEALTH’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 29, 

2020. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS