H. R. 2992 

One Hundred Seventeenth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE SECOND SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday, 

the third day of January, two thousand and twenty-two 

An Act 

To direct the Attorney General to develop crisis intervention training tools for 

use by first responders related to interacting with persons who have a traumatic 

brain injury, another form of acquired brain injury, or post-traumatic stress 

disorder, and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Traumatic Brain Injury and 

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Law Enforcement Training Act’’ 

or the ‘‘TBI and PTSD Law Enforcement Training Act’’. 

SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

Congress finds the following: 

(1) According to the Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention, there were approximately 2.9 million traumatic 

brain injury-related emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and deaths in the United States in 2014. 

(2) Effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be shortterm or long-term, and include impaired thinking or memory, 

movement, vision or hearing, or emotional functioning, such 

as personality changes or depression. 

(3) Currently, between 3.2 million and 5.3 million persons 

are living with a TBI-related disability in the United States. 

(4) About 7 or 8 percent of Americans will experience 

post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point in their 

lives, and about 8 million adults have PTSD during the course 

of a given year. 

(5) TBI and PTSD have been recognized as the signature 

injuries of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

(6) According to the Department of Defense, 383,000 men 

and women deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan sustained a brain 

injury while in the line of duty between 2000 and 2018. 

(7) Approximately 13.5 percent of Operations Iraqi Freedom 

and Enduring Freedom veterans screen positive for PTSD, 

according to the Department of Veteran Affairs. 

(8) About 12 percent of Gulf War Veterans have PTSD 

in a given year while about 30 percent of Vietnam Veterans 

have had PTSD in their lifetime. 

(9) Physical signs of TBI can include motor impairment, 

dizziness or poor balance, slurred speech, impaired depth 

perception, or impaired verbal memory, while physical signs 

of PTSD can include agitation, irritability, hostility, 
H. R. 2992—2 

hypervigilance, self-destructive behavior, fear, severe anxiety, 

or mistrust. 

(10) Physical signs of TBI and PTSD often overlap with 

physical signs of alcohol or drug impairment, which complicate 

a first responder’s ability to quickly and effectively identify 

an individual’s condition. 

SEC. 3. CREATION OF A TBI AND PTSD TRAINING FOR FIRST 

RESPONDERS. 

Part HH of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 

Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10651 et seq.) is amended— 

(1) in section 2991— 

(A) in subsection (h)(1)(A), by inserting before the 

period at the end the following: ‘‘, including the training 

developed under section 2993’’; and 

(B) in subsection (o), by amending paragraph (1) to 

read as follows: 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appropriated 

to the Department of Justice to carry out this section 

$54,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2027.’’; and 

(2) by inserting after section 2992 the following new section: 

‘‘SEC. 2993. CREATION OF A TBI AND PTSD TRAINING FOR FIRST 

RESPONDERS. 

‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the date of 

the enactment of this section, the Attorney General, acting through 

the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, in consultation 

with the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

and the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, 

shall solicit best practices regarding techniques to interact with 

persons who have a traumatic brain injury, an acquired brain 

injury, or post-traumatic stress disorder from first responder, brain 

injury, veteran, and mental health organizations, health care and 

mental health providers, hospital emergency departments, and 

other relevant stakeholders, and shall develop crisis intervention 

training tools for use by first responders (as such term is defined 

in section 3025) that provide— 

‘‘(1) information on the conditions and symptoms of a traumatic brain injury, an acquired brain injury, and post-traumatic 

stress disorder; 

‘‘(2) techniques to interact with persons who have a traumatic brain injury, an acquired brain injury, or post-traumatic 

stress disorder; and 

‘‘(3) information on how to recognize persons who have 

a traumatic brain injury, an acquired brain injury, or posttraumatic stress disorder. 

‘‘(b) USE OF TRAINING TOOLS AT LAW ENFORCEMENT MENTAL

HEALTH LEARNING SITES.—The Attorney General shall ensure that 

not less than one Law Enforcement Mental Health Learning Site 

designated by the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance 

uses the training tools developed under subsection (a). 

‘‘(c) POLICE MENTAL HEALTH COLLABORATION TOOLKIT.—The 

Attorney General shall make the training tools developed under 

subsection (a) available as part of the Police-Mental Health 

Collaboration Toolkit provided by the Bureau of Justice Assistance.’’. 
H. R. 2992—3 

SEC. 4. STUDY ON FIRST RESPONDERS WITH TBI. 

Not later than 24 months after the date of the enactment 

of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting 

through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Director of the National Institutes of Health and 

in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary 

of Veterans Affairs, shall conduct a study and submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives 

and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions of 

the Senate a report on the prevalence and incidence of concussion 

among first responders (as such term is defined in section 3025 

of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Street Act of 1968 (34 

U.S.C. 10705)). The report shall include data on the incidence 

of concussion among first responders and recommendations for 

resources for first responders who have experienced traumatic brain 

injury. 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.