IB 
Union Calendar No. 419 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 1646 
[Report No. 116–519, Part I] 
To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to improve the 
detection, prevention, and treatment of mental health issues among public 
safety officers, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 8, 2019 
Mr. BERA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Science, 
Space, and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
SEPTEMBER 18, 2020 
Additional sponsors: Mr. FITZPATRICK, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. PAPPAS, Mr. 
SHERMAN, Mr. ROUDA, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. PERLMUTTER, 
Mr. 
GOLDEN, 
Ms. 
WASSERMAN
SCHULTZ, 
Mr. 
PANETTA, 
Mr. 
GARAMENDI, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. WELCH, 
Ms. DEAN, Mr. SOTO, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. RUIZ, Mr. VISCLOSKY, Ms. 
STEFANIK, Mr. MALINOWSKI, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. POSEY, Mr. DEFAZIO, 
Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, Mr. POCAN, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, 
Mr. MCADAMS, Mr. DEUTCH, Ms. GABBARD, Mr. O’HALLERAN, Ms. 
STEVENS, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. HARDER of California, Mr. VARGAS, Ms. 
CLARK of Massachusetts, Mr. KILMER, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. VELA, Mr. 
LAMB, Ms. TITUS, Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas, Mr. PETERSON, Mr. KIND, 
Mr. HECK, Ms. WILD, Mr. HIMES, Mr. BRINDISI, Mr. BLUMENAUER, 
Mrs. MURPHY of Florida, Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. 
TONKO, Mr. SCHRADER, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Ms. CRAIG, Ms. 
WEXTON, Mr. CLEAVER, Ms. SLOTKIN, Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee, 
Mr. PASCRELL, Mrs. LEE of Nevada, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. KENDRA S. HORN 
of Oklahoma, Mrs. AXNE, Mr. CRIST, Mr. TRONE, Mr. LUJA´N, Mr. 
STANTON, Ms. FINKENAUER, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. DELGADO, Mr. 
GOTTHEIMER, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Ms. OMAR, Mr. KIM, Mr. 
NEGUSE, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Mrs. WALORSKI, 
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Mr. VAN DREW, Mr. RYAN, Mr. HORSFORD, Mr. CASE, Ms. JOHNSON 
of Texas, Mr. COHEN, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. BURGESS, and Mr. LEVIN of 
California 
SEPTEMBER 18, 2020 
Reported from the Committee on Energy and Commerce with an amendment 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
SEPTEMBER 18, 2020 
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology discharged; committed to the 
Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered 
to be printed 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 8, 2019] 
A BILL 
To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
to improve the detection, prevention, and treatment of 
mental health issues among public safety officers, 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 ‘‘Helping Emergency Re-
sponders Overcome Act’’ or the ‘‘HERO Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DATA SYSTEM TO CAPTURE NATIONAL PUBLIC 
SAFETY OFFICER SUICIDE INCIDENCE. 
The Public Health Service Act is amended by inserting 
after section 317U of such Act (42 U.S.C. 247b–23) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘SEC. 317V. DATA SYSTEM TO CAPTURE NATIONAL PUBLIC 
SAFETY OFFICER SUICIDE INCIDENCE. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in coordination 
with the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention and other agencies as the Secretary determines 
appropriate, shall— 
‘‘(1) develop and maintain a data system, to be 
known as the Public Safety Officer Suicide Reporting 
System, for the purposes of— 
‘‘(A) collecting data on the suicide incidence 
among public safety officers; and 
‘‘(B) facilitating the study of successful 
interventions to reduce suicide among public 
safety officers; and 
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‘‘(2) integrate such system into the National Vio-
lent Death Reporting System, so long as the Secretary 
determines such integration to be consistent with the 
purposes described in paragraph (1). 
‘‘(b) DATA COLLECTION.—In collecting data for the 
Public Safety Officer Suicide Reporting System, the Sec-
retary shall, at a minimum, collect the following informa-
tion: 
‘‘(1) The total number of suicides in the United 
States among all public safety officers in a given cal-
endar year. 
‘‘(2) Suicide rates for public safety officers in a 
given calendar year, disaggregated by— 
‘‘(A) age and gender of the public safety of-
ficer; 
‘‘(B) State; 
‘‘(C) occupation; including both the individ-
ual’s role in their public safety agency and their 
primary occupation in the case of volunteer pub-
lic safety officers; 
‘‘(D) where available, the status of the pub-
lic safety officer as volunteer, paid-on-call, or ca-
reer; and 
‘‘(E) status of the public safety officer as ac-
tive or retired. 
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