Behavioral Intervention Guidelines Act of 2020

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. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Behavioral Intervention Guidelines Act of 2020 2. Best practices for behavioral intervention teams The Public Health Service Act is amended by inserting after section 520G of such Act ( 42 U.S.C. 290bb–38 520H. Best practices for behavioral intervention teams (a) In general The Secretary, acting through the Assistant Secretary, shall develop and periodically update— (1) best practices to assist elementary schools, secondary schools, and institutions of higher education in establishing and using behavioral intervention teams; and (2) a list of evidence-based threat assessment training providers to assist personnel in elementary schools, secondary schools, and institutions of higher education in implementing such best practices, including with respect to training behavioral intervention teams. (b) Elements The best practices under subsection (a)(1) shall include guidance on the following: (1) How behavioral intervention teams can operate effectively from an evidence-based, objective perspective while protecting the constitutional and civil rights of individuals, including any individual of concern. (2) The use of behavioral intervention teams to identify individuals of concern, implement interventions, and manage risk through the framework of the school’s or institution’s rules or code of conduct, as applicable. (3) How behavioral intervention teams can, when assessing an individual of concern— (A) seek training on evidence-based, threat-assessment rubrics; (B) ensure that such teams— (i) have adequately trained, diverse stakeholders with varied expertise; and (ii) use cross validation by a wide-range of individual perspectives on the team; and (C) use violence risk assessment. (4) How behavioral intervention teams can avoid— (A) attempting to predict future behavior by the concept of pre-crime; (B) inappropriately using a mental health assessment; (C) inappropriately limiting or restricting law enforcement’s jurisdiction over criminal matters; (D) attempting to substitute the behavioral intervention process in place of a criminal process, or impede a criminal process, when an individual of concern’s behavior has potential criminal implications; (E) endangering an individual’s privacy by failing to ensure that all applicable Federal and State privacy laws are fully complied with; or (F) creating school-to-prison pipelines. (c) Consultation In carrying out subsection (a)(1), the Secretary shall consult with— (1) the Secretary of Education; (2) the Director of the National Threat Assessment Center of the Department of Homeland Security; (3) the Attorney General of the United States; and (4) as appropriate, relevant stakeholders including— (A) teachers and other educators, principals, school administrators, school board members, school psychologists, mental health professionals, and parents of elementary school and secondary school students; (B) local law enforcement agencies and campus law enforcement administrators; (C) mental health mobile crisis providers; (D) child and adolescent psychiatrists; and (E) other education and mental health professionals. (d) Publication Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall publish the best practices under subsection (a)(1) and the list under subsection (a)(2) on a publicly accessible website of the Department of Health and Human Services. (e) Technical assistance The Secretary shall provide technical assistance to institutions of higher education, elementary schools, and secondary schools to assist such institutions and schools in implementing the best practices under subsection (a). (f) Definitions In this section: (1) The term behavioral intervention team (A) are responsible for identifying and assessing individuals of concern; and (B) develop and facilitate implementation of evidence-based interventions to mitigate the threat of harm to self or others posed by individuals of concern and address the mental and behavioral health needs of individuals of concern to reduce such threat. (2) The terms elementary school parent secondary school 20 U.S.C. 7801 (3) The term individual of concern (4) The term institution of higher education 20 U.S.C. 1002 (5) The term mental health assessment (6) The term pre-crime (7) The term violence risk assessment . 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

Summary: Behavioral Intervention Guidelines Act of 2020 This bill requires the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to develop best practices for schools to establish behavioral intervention teams (i.e., experts who are responsible for identifying individuals of concern and addressing associated behavioral health issues so as to prevent harm to the individual or others). SAMHSA must also develop a list of providers with threat-assessment training to help school personnel implement the best practices.