I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2066 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to promote mental and behavioral 
health services for underserved populations. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 23, 2009 
Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas (for himself and Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsyl-
vania) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to promote mental 
and behavioral health services for underserved populations. 
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 ‘‘Graduate Psychology 
Education Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) the Institute of Medicine issued a 2006 re-
port entitled ‘‘Improving the Quality of Health Care 
for Mental and Substance Abuse Conditions’’, which 
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called for efforts to increase the mental and behav-
ioral health care workforce in the United States, and 
to assure competency of that workforce; 
(2) the ‘‘Action Plan for Behavioral Health 
Workforce Development’’, commissioned in 2007 by 
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 
Administration, reported an insufficient supply of 
trained professionals available to provide mental and 
behavioral health services to older adults, and pre-
dicted that such shortage would become more dire as 
the aging population grows and the demand for spe-
cialized mental and behavioral health services in-
creases; 
(3) the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 
need for approximately 70,000 more doctoral level 
health service psychologists, including clinical psy-
chologists, counselors, and school psychologists, in 
the United States by 2016; 
(4) the Department of Defense Task Force on 
Mental Health reported in 2007 that— 
(A) the Nation faces a great need for ade-
quately trained mental health professionals, 
both civilian and in the Armed Forces; 
(B) nearly 40 percent of soldiers and half 
of National Guard members report psycho-
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logical ‘‘symptoms’’ and these problems are 
‘‘daunting and growing’’; and 
(C) increasingly, National Guard members, 
reservists, and even active duty members of the 
Armed Forces who are stationed far from 
health care installations of the Armed Forces, 
as well as the families of such individuals, are 
more likely to seek care in civilian settings, thus 
increasing the demand for mental health serv-
ices in those communities; 
(5) according to a report of the Health Re-
sources and Services Administration in September 
2008, there are 3,059 mental health professional 
shortage areas in rural and urban areas of the 
United States, in which 77,000,000 people live, and, 
based on the Administration’s population to practi-
tioner ratio of 10,000:1, an additional 5,145 mental 
health providers are required to meet the immediate 
needs of the mental health professional shortage 
areas; 
(6) the Annapolis Coalition Report, commis-
sioned in 2007 by the Substance Abuse and Mental 
Health Services Administration— 
(A) found substantial needs to increase the 
mental and behavioral health workforce of the 
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future and to broaden the racial and cultural 
diversity of that workforce; and 
(B) identified a pending retirement of 
more than half of the clinically trained mental 
and behavioral health professionals in the 
United States, along with a serious shortage of 
providers in rural areas, and urged a national 
focus on— 
(i) addressing the needs of under-
served persons dealing with chronic ill-
nesses; 
(ii) treating young people with mental 
disorders; and 
(iii) working with young people to 
help prevent risk-taking behaviors, includ-
ing smoking, substance abuse, violence, un-
safe sex, and actions that might cause ve-
hicular accidents; 
(7) according to multiple reports of the Surgeon 
General on the mental health of children and older 
adults— 
(A) there is an urgent need for a well- 
trained mental and behavioral health workforce 
to treat the increase in depression and suicide; 
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