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 pur-
poses. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 27, 2019 
Mr. FERGUSON (for himself, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. KENNEDY, and Mr. PA-
NETTA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee 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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A BILL 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to direct the Sec-
retary 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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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Behavioral Intervention 
Guidelines Act of 2020’’. 
SEC. 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) the 
following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 520H. BEST PRACTICES FOR BEHAVIORAL INTERVEN-
TION TEAMS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through the 
Assistant Secretary, shall develop and periodically up-
date— 
‘‘(1) best practices to assist elementary schools, 
secondary schools, and institutions of higher edu-
cation in establishing and using behavioral interven-
tion 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, in-
cluding with respect to training behavioral interven-
tion teams. 
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‘‘(b) ELEMENTS.—The best practices under subsection 
(a)(1) shall include guidance on the following: 
‘‘(1) How behavioral intervention teams can op-
erate effectively from an evidence-based, objective per-
spective 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 interven-
tions, 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— 
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‘‘(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 proc-
ess, or impede a criminal process, when an indi-
vidual of concern’s behavior has potential crimi-
nal 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 Assess-
ment Center of the Department of Homeland Secu-
rity; 
‘‘(3) the Attorney General of the United States; 
and 
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‘‘(1) The term ‘behavioral intervention team’ 
means a team of qualified individuals who— 
‘‘(A) are responsible for identifying and as-
sessing 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 individ-
uals of concern and address the mental and be-
havioral health needs of individuals of concern to 
reduce such threat. 
‘‘(2) The terms ‘elementary school’, ‘parent’, and 
‘secondary school’ have the meanings given to such 
terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and Sec-
ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 
‘‘(3) The term ‘individual of concern’ means an 
individual whose behavior indicates a potential threat 
to self or others. 
‘‘(4) The term ‘institution of higher education’ 
has the meaning given to such term in section 102 of 
the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002). 
‘‘(5) The term ‘mental health assessment’ means 
an evaluation, primarily focused on diagnosis, deter-
mining the need for involuntary commitment, medi-
cation management, and on-going treatment rec-
ommendations. 
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‘‘(6) The term ‘pre-crime’ means law-enforcement 
efforts and strategies to deter crime by predicting 
when and where criminal activity will occur. 
‘‘(7) The term ‘violence risk assessment’ refers to 
a broad determination of the potential risk of violence 
based on evidence-based literature.’’. 
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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 
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. 
SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 
Reported with an amendment; committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 
and ordered to be printed 
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