IB 

Union Calendar No. 440 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3539 

[Report No. 116–540] 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health 

and Human Services to develop best practices for the establishment 

and use of behavioral intervention teams at schools, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 27, 2019 

Mr. FERGUSON (for himself, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. KENNEDY, and Mr. PANETTA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 

Additional sponsors: Mr. PETERS and Mr. BILIRAKIS

SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 

Reported with an amendment; committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on June 27, 2019] 


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•HR 3539 RH

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop best 

practices for the establishment and use of behavioral 

intervention teams at schools, and for other purposes. 


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•HR 3539 RH

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 ‘‘Behavioral Intervention 

5 Guidelines Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. BEST PRACTICES FOR BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION 

7 TEAMS. 

8 The Public Health Service Act is amended by inserting 

9 after section 520G of such Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb–38) the 

10 following new section: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 520H. BEST PRACTICES FOR BEHAVIORAL INTERVEN12 TION TEAMS. 

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

14 Assistant Secretary, shall develop and periodically up15 date— 

16 ‘‘(1) best practices to assist elementary schools, 

17 secondary schools, and institutions of higher edu18 cation in establishing and using behavioral interven19 tion teams; and 

20 ‘‘(2) a list of evidence-based threat assessment 

21 training providers to assist personnel in elementary 

22 schools, secondary schools, and institutions of higher 

23 education in implementing such best practices, in24 cluding with respect to training behavioral interven25 tion teams. 


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•HR 3539 RH

1 ‘‘(b) ELEMENTS.—The best practices under subsection 

2 (a)(1) shall include guidance on the following: 

3 ‘‘(1) How behavioral intervention teams can op4 erate effectively from an evidence-based, objective per5 spective while protecting the constitutional and civil 

6 rights of individuals, including any individual of 

7 concern. 

8 ‘‘(2) The use of behavioral intervention teams to 

9 identify individuals of concern, implement interven10 tions, and manage risk through the framework of the 

11 school’s or institution’s rules or code of conduct, as 

12 applicable. 

13 ‘‘(3) How behavioral intervention teams can, 

14 when assessing an individual of concern— 

15 ‘‘(A) seek training on evidence-based, threat16 assessment rubrics; 

17 ‘‘(B) ensure that such teams— 

18 ‘‘(i) have adequately trained, diverse 

19 stakeholders with varied expertise; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) use cross validation by a wide21 range of individual perspectives on the 

22 team; and 

23 ‘‘(C) use violence risk assessment. 

24 ‘‘(4) How behavioral intervention teams can 

25 avoid— 


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1 ‘‘(A) attempting to predict future behavior 

2 by the concept of pre-crime; 

3 ‘‘(B) inappropriately using a mental health 

4 assessment; 

5 ‘‘(C) inappropriately limiting or restricting 

6 law enforcement’s jurisdiction over criminal 

7 matters; 

8 ‘‘(D) attempting to substitute the behavioral 

9 intervention process in place of a criminal proc10 ess, or impede a criminal process, when an indi11 vidual of concern’s behavior has potential crimi12 nal implications; 

13 ‘‘(E) endangering an individual’s privacy 

14 by failing to ensure that all applicable Federal 

15 and State privacy laws are fully complied with; 

16 or 

17 ‘‘(F) creating school-to-prison pipelines. 

18 ‘‘(c) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out subsection 

19 (a)(1), the Secretary shall consult with— 

20 ‘‘(1) the Secretary of Education; 

21 ‘‘(2) the Director of the National Threat Assess22 ment Center of the Department of Homeland Secu23 rity; 

24 ‘‘(3) the Attorney General of the United States; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(4) as appropriate, relevant stakeholders includ2 ing— 

3 ‘‘(A) teachers and other educators, prin4 cipals, school administrators, school board mem5 bers, school psychologists, mental health profes6 sionals, and parents of elementary school and 

7 secondary school students; 

8 ‘‘(B) local law enforcement agencies and 

9 campus law enforcement administrators; 

10 ‘‘(C) mental health mobile crisis providers; 

11 ‘‘(D) child and adolescent psychiatrists; and 

12 ‘‘(E) other education and mental health 

13 professionals. 

14 ‘‘(d) PUBLICATION.—Not later than 2 years after the 

15 date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall publish 

16 the best practices under subsection (a)(1) and the list under 

17 subsection (a)(2) on a publicly accessible website of the De18 partment of Health and Human Services. 

19 ‘‘(e) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall 

20 provide technical assistance to institutions of higher edu21 cation, elementary schools, and secondary schools to assist 

22 such institutions and schools in implementing the best prac23 tices under subsection (a). 

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


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1 ‘‘(1) The term ‘behavioral intervention team’ 

2 means a team of qualified individuals who— 

3 ‘‘(A) are responsible for identifying and as4 sessing individuals of concern; and 

5 ‘‘(B) develop and facilitate implementation 

6 of evidence-based interventions to mitigate the 

7 threat of harm to self or others posed by individ8 uals of concern and address the mental and be9 havioral health needs of individuals of concern to 

10 reduce such threat. 

11 ‘‘(2) The terms ‘elementary school’, ‘parent’, and 

12 ‘secondary school’ have the meanings given to such 

13 terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and Sec14 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

15 ‘‘(3) The term ‘individual of concern’ means an 

16 individual whose behavior indicates a potential threat 

17 to self or others. 

18 ‘‘(4) The term ‘institution of higher education’ 

19 has the meaning given to such term in section 102 of 

20 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002). 

21 ‘‘(5) The term ‘mental health assessment’ means 

22 an evaluation, primarily focused on diagnosis, deter23 mining the need for involuntary commitment, medi24 cation management, and on-going treatment rec25 ommendations. 


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1 ‘‘(6) The term ‘pre-crime’ means law-enforcement 

2 efforts and strategies to deter crime by predicting 

3 when and where criminal activity will occur. 

4 ‘‘(7) The term ‘violence risk assessment’ refers to 

5 a broad determination of the potential risk of violence 

6 based on evidence-based literature.’’. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 440 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3539 

[Report No. 116–540] 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to direct 

and for other purposes. use of behavioral intervention teams at schools, develop best practices for the establishment and the Secretary of Health and Human Services to 

SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 

Reported with an amendment; committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS