IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4585 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 22, 2020 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

AN ACT 

To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

to conduct a national suicide prevention media campaign, 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Campaign to Prevent 

3 Suicide Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION LIFELINE. 

5 Section 520E–3(b)(2) of the Public Health Service 

6 Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb–36c(b)(2)) is amended by inserting 

7 after ‘‘suicide prevention hotline’’ the following: ‘‘, which, 

8 beginning not later than one year after the date of the 

9 enactment of the Campaign to Prevent Suicide Act, shall 

10 be a 3-digit nationwide toll-free telephone number,’’. 

11 SEC. 3. NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION MEDIA CAM12 PAIGN. 

13 (a) NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION MEDIA CAM14 PAIGN.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than the date that 

16 is three years after the date of the enactment of this 

17 Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

18 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Secretary’’), in 

19 coordination with the Assistant Secretary for Mental 

20 Health and Substance Use (referred to in this sec21 tion as the ‘‘Assistant Secretary’’) and the Director 

22 of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

23 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Director’’), shall 

24 conduct a national suicide prevention media cam25 paign (referred to in this section as the ‘‘national 


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1 media campaign’’), in accordance with the require2 ments of this section, for purposes of— 

3 (A) preventing suicide in the United 

4 States; 

5 (B) educating families, friends, and com6 munities on how to address suicide and suicidal 

7 thoughts, including when to encourage individ8 uals with suicidal risk to seek help; and 

9 (C) increasing awareness of suicide preven10 tion resources of the Centers for Disease Con11 trol and Prevention and the Substance Abuse 

12 and Mental Health Services Administration (in13 cluding the suicide prevention hotline main14 tained under section 520E–3 of the Public 

15 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb–36c)), 

16 any suicide prevention mobile application of the 

17 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or 

18 the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services 

19 Administration, and other support resources de20 termined appropriate by the Secretary. 

21 (2) ADDITIONAL CONSULTATION.—In addition 

22 to coordinating with the Assistant Secretary and the 

23 Director under this section, the Secretary shall con24 sult with, as appropriate, State, local, Tribal, and 

25 territorial health departments, primary health care 


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1 providers, hospitals with emergency departments, 

2 mental and behavioral health services providers, cri3 sis response services providers, first responders, sui4 cide prevention and mental health professionals, pa5 tient advocacy groups, survivors of suicide attempts, 

6 and representatives of television and social media 

7 platforms in planning the national media campaign 

8 to be conducted under paragraph (1). 

9 (b) TARGET AUDIENCES.— 

10 (1) TAILORING ADVERTISEMENTS AND OTHER

11 COMMUNICATIONS.—In conducting the national 

12 media campaign under subsection (a)(1), the Sec13 retary may tailor culturally competent advertise14 ments and other communications of the campaign 

15 across all available media for a target audience 

16 (such as a particular geographic location or demo17 graphic) across the lifespan. 

18 (2) TARGETING CERTAIN LOCAL AREAS.—The 

19 Secretary shall, to the maximum extent practicable, 

20 use amounts made available under subsection (f) for 

21 media that targets individuals in local areas with 

22 higher suicide rates. 

23 (c) USE OF FUNDS.— 

24 (1) REQUIRED USES.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, to 

2 the extent reasonably feasible with the funds 

3 made available under subsection (f), carry out 

4 the following, with respect to the national media 

5 campaign: 

6 (i) The purchase of advertising time 

7 and space, including the strategic planning 

8 for, and accounting of, any such purchase. 

9 (ii) Creative services and talent costs. 

10 (iii) Advertising production costs. 

11 (iv) Testing and evaluation of adver12 tising. 

13 (v) Evaluation of the effectiveness of 

14 the national media campaign. 

15 (vi) Operational and management ex16 penses. 

17 (vii) The creation of an educational 

18 toolkit for television and social media plat19 forms to use in discussing suicide and rais20 ing awareness about how to prevent sui21 cide. 

22 (B) SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS.— 

23 (i) TESTING AND EVALUATION OF AD24 VERTISING.—In testing and evaluating ad25 vertising under subparagraph (A)(iv), the 


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1 Secretary shall test all advertisements 

2 after use in the national media campaign 

3 to evaluate the extent to which such adver4 tisements have been effective in carrying 

5 out the purposes of the national media 

6 campaign. 

7 (ii) EVALUATION OF EFFECTIVENESS

8 OF NATIONAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN.—In eval9 uating the effectiveness of the national 

10 media campaign under subparagraph 

11 (A)(v), the Secretary shall take into ac12 count— 

13 (I) the number of unique calls 

14 that are made to the suicide preven15 tion hotline maintained under section 

16 520E–3 of the Public Health Service 

17 Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb–36c) and as18 sess whether there are any State and 

19 regional variations with respect to the 

20 capacity to answer such calls; 

21 (II) the number of unique en22 counters with suicide prevention and 

23 support resources of the Centers for 

24 Disease Control and Prevention and 

25 the Substance Abuse and Mental 


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1 Health Services Administration and 

2 assess engagement with such suicide 

3 prevention and support resources; 

4 (III) whether the national media 

5 campaign has contributed to increased 

6 awareness that suicidal individuals 

7 should be engaged, rather than ig8 nored; and 

9 (IV) such other measures of eval10 uation as the Secretary determines 

11 are appropriate. 

12 (2) OPTIONAL USES.—The Secretary may use 

13 amounts made available under subsection (f) for the 

14 following, with respect to the national media cam15 paign: 

16 (A) Partnerships with professional and 

17 civic groups, community-based organizations, 

18 including faith-based organizations, and Gov19 ernment or Tribal organizations that the Sec20 retary determines have experience in suicide 

21 prevention, including the Substance Abuse and 

22 Mental Health Services Administration and the 

23 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

24 (B) Entertainment industry outreach, 

25 interactive outreach, media projects and activiVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4585.RFS H4585

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1 ties, public information, news media outreach, 

2 outreach through television programs, and cor3 porate sponsorship and participation. 

4 (d) PROHIBITIONS.—None of the amounts made 

5 available under subsection (f) may be obligated or ex6 pended for any of the following: 

7 (1) To supplant current suicide prevention cam8 paigns. 

9 (2) For partisan political purposes, or to ex10 press advocacy in support of or to defeat any clearly 

11 identified candidate, clearly identified ballot initia12 tive, or clearly identified legislative or regulatory 

13 proposal. 

14 (e) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 18 

15 months after implementation of the national media cam16 paign has begun, the Secretary, in coordination with the 

17 Assistant Secretary and the Director, shall, with respect 

18 to the first year of the national media campaign, submit 

19 to Congress a report that describes— 

20 (1) the strategy of the national media campaign 

21 and whether specific objectives of such campaign 

22 were accomplished, including whether such campaign 

23 impacted the number of calls made to lifeline crisis 

24 centers and the capacity of such centers to manage 

25 such calls; 


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1 (2) steps taken to ensure that the national 

2 media campaign operates in an effective and effi3 cient manner consistent with the overall strategy 

4 and focus of the national media campaign; 

5 (3) plans to purchase advertising time and 

6 space; 

7 (4) policies and practices implemented to ensure 

8 that Federal funds are used responsibly to purchase 

9 advertising time and space and eliminate the poten10 tial for waste, fraud, and abuse; and 

11 (5) all contracts entered into with a corpora12 tion, a partnership, or an individual working on be13 half of the national media campaign. 

14 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For pur15 poses of carrying out this section, there is authorized to 

16 be appropriated $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 

17 through 2025. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 21, 

2020. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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