II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2873 

To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants 

to establish or expand programs and activities to increase access to 

high-quality culturally competent trauma support and mental health care, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2021 

Mr. COONS (for himself, Mr. BOOKER, and Mr. DURBIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

to award grants to establish or expand programs and 

activities to increase access to high-quality culturally 

competent trauma support and mental health care, 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 ‘‘Preventing and Ad5 dressing Trauma with Health Services Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘PATHS Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR HIGH-QUALITY CULTURALLY COM2 PETENT TRAUMA SUPPORT AND MENTAL 

3 HEALTH SERVICES. 

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

5 (42 U.S.C. 290dd et seq.) is amended by adding at the 

6 end the following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 553. GRANTS FOR HIGH-QUALITY CULTURALLY COM8 PETENT TRAUMA SUPPORT AND MENTAL 

9 HEALTH SERVICES. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 

11 the Assistant Secretary and in consultation with the heads 

12 of other relevant Federal agencies, shall award grants to 

13 eligible entities to establish or expand programs and ac14 tivities for the purpose of increasing access to high-quality 

15 culturally competent trauma support and mental health 

16 care for covered individuals in covered communities. 

17 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible for a grant 

18 under this section, an entity shall be— 

19 ‘‘(1) a nonprofit or community-based program 

20 or organization that— 

21 ‘‘(A) provides or has developed plans to 

22 provide culturally competent programs and re23 sources that are aligned with evidence-based or 

24 evidence-informed practices for trauma-in25 formed mental health care; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) has demonstrated expertise in serving 

2 covered communities; 

3 ‘‘(2) a Federal, State, or local agency, such as 

4 a public health, mental health, law enforcement, or 

5 social services agency, that conducts activities (which 

6 may be through partnering with a nonprofit or com7 munity-based organization) to, in a covered commu8 nity, screen individuals for mental health needs, as9 sess such needs, and provide mental health services 

10 or referrals to such services; or 

11 ‘‘(3) a hospital, health care clinic, or other 

12 health care institution that provides to a covered 

13 community culturally competent programs, mental 

14 health services, and resources that are aligned with 

15 evidence-based or evidence-informed practices for 

16 trauma-informed mental health care. 

17 ‘‘(c) APPLICATIONS; PREFERENCE; PERIOD.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity desiring a 

19 grant under this section shall submit to the Sec20 retary an application at such time, in such manner, 

21 and containing such information as the Secretary 

22 may reasonably require. 

23 ‘‘(2) PREFERENCE.—In selecting applicants for 

24 a grant under this section, the Secretary may give 

25 preference to eligible entities that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) demonstrate they have established a 

2 partnership with another eligible entity or serv3 ice provider in a covered community; or 

4 ‘‘(B) are community health centers or fed5 erally qualified health centers. 

6 ‘‘(3) PERIOD.—Each grant awarded under this 

7 section shall be for a period of 5 years, with equal 

8 amounts awarded to the recipient through the grant 

9 for each of such 5 years. 

10 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity that receives 

11 a grant under subsection (a)— 

12 ‘‘(1) shall use the funds to increase access to or 

13 provide evidence-based or evidence-informed, trau14 ma-informed mental health services to covered indi15 viduals in a covered community; and 

16 ‘‘(2) may use the grant funds to— 

17 ‘‘(A) establish and maintain programming 

18 to provide culturally competent mental health 

19 services; 

20 ‘‘(B) hire and retain mental health care 

21 providers; 

22 ‘‘(C) train mental health care providers on 

23 culturally competent trauma-informed care 

24 strategies; 


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1 ‘‘(D) develop strategies and projects to en2 hance access to trauma-informed care and re3 sources for covered individuals in a covered 

4 community; 

5 ‘‘(E) establish partnerships with other eli6 gible entities to develop and enhance effective 

7 strategies to provide trauma-informed mental 

8 health services to covered individuals in a cov9 ered community; 

10 ‘‘(F) develop strategies and training for 

11 law enforcement officers or other first respond12 ers to provide referral services to covered indi13 viduals in a covered community to trauma-in14 formed mental health services; 

15 ‘‘(G) build public awareness and education 

16 about trauma-informed mental health services 

17 in a covered community; and 

18 ‘‘(H) build public awareness and education 

19 in a covered community about the importance 

20 of addressing trauma resulting from gun vio21 lence. 

22 ‘‘(e) EVALUATION.— 

23 ‘‘(1) GRANT RECIPIENT REQUIREMENTS.—An 

24 eligible entity that receives a grant under this sec25 tion shall— 


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1 ‘‘(A) develop metrics and key performance 

2 indicators to assess outcomes achieved by pro3 grams or activities funded through such grant; 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(B) not later than the date that is 2 

6 years after the day on which the entity receives 

7 such grant, and 1 year after such date, submit 

8 to the Secretary a report that details— 

9 ‘‘(i) the metrics and key performance 

10 indicators used to assess outcomes 

11 achieved by such programs or activities; 

12 ‘‘(ii) the process used to identify and 

13 develop such metrics and key performance 

14 indicators; and 

15 ‘‘(iii) an assessment of the outcomes 

16 achieved by such programs or activities. 

17 ‘‘(2) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 

18 the date that is 3 years after the date of enactment 

19 of this section, and each year thereafter through fis20 cal year 2026, the Secretary shall conduct an eval21 uation of the programs or activities funded by a 

22 grant under this section and submit a report of the 

23 results of such evaluation to Congress. 

24 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 ‘‘(1) COVERED COMMUNITY.—The term ‘cov2 ered community’ means a community that has an 

3 age-adjusted rate of violence-related (or intentional) 

4 injury deaths that is above the national average, as 

5 determined by the Director of the Centers for Dis6 ease Control and Prevention. 

7 ‘‘(2) COVERED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘cov8 ered individual’ means an individual who has been 

9 injured, has witnessed, has been threatened, has 

10 been exposed to, or has been otherwise impacted by 

11 gun violence within the 5 years preceding the date 

12 of enactment of this section. 

13 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 

14 carry out this section, there is authorized to be appro15 priated $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 

16 through 2026.’’. 

Æ 


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