HERO Act
Bill: S.2700 | Sponsor: Sen. Rosen, Jacky (D-NV)
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Helping Emergency Responders Overcome Act or the HERO Act
This bill establishes and authorizes behavioral health programs for law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical services personnel, 9-1-1 operators, and other public safety officers.
Specifically, the Fire Administration within the Federal Emergency Management Agency must develop resources for educating mental health care providers about treating firefighters and emergency medical services personnel.
In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must develop best practices and resources for identifying, preventing, and treating post-traumatic stress disorder and co-occurring disorders in public safety officers. HHS must work with relevant federal departments to incorporate these resources into federal training programs for public safety officers.
The bill also authorizes HHS to set up a public safety officer suicide-reporting system and a grant program for peer-support behavioral health and wellness programs within fire departments and emergency medical services agencies.

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.

    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 ``Helping Emergency Responders 
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 before 
section 318 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 247c) the following:

``SEC. 317V. DATA SYSTEM TO CAPTURE NATIONAL PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICER 
              SUICIDE INCIDENCE.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary, in coordination with other 
agencies as the Secretary determines appropriate, may--
            ``(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
            ``(2) integrate such system into the National Violent 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 Secretary shall, at a minimum, 
collect the following information:
            ``(1) The total number of suicides in the United States 
        among all public safety officers in a given calendar year.
            ``(2) Suicide rates for public safety officers in a given 
        calendar year, disaggregated by--
                    ``(A) age and gender of the public safety officer;
                    ``(B) State;
                    ``(C) occupation; including both the individual's 
                role in their public safety agency and their primary 
                occupation in the case of volunteer public safety 
                officers;
                    ``(D) where available, the status of the public 
                safety officer as volunteer, paid-on-call, or career; 
                and
                    ``(E) where available, the status of the public 
                safety officer as active or retired.
    ``(c) Data Privacy and Security.--In developing and maintaining the 
Public Safety Officer Suicide Reporting System, the Secretary shall 
ensure that all applicable Federal privacy and security protections are 
followed to ensure that--
            ``(1) the confidentiality and anonymity of suicide victims 
        and their families are protected, including so as to ensure 
        that data cannot be used to deny benefits; and
            ``(2) data is sufficiently secure to prevent unauthorized 
        access.
    ``(d) Reporting.--
            ``(1) Annual report.--Not later than 2 years after the date 
        of enactment of the Helping Emergency Responders Overcome Act, 
        and biannually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit a report 
        to the Congress on the suicide incidence among public safety 
        officers. Each such report shall--
                    ``(A) include the number and rate of such suicide 
                incidence, disaggregated by age, gender, and State of 
                employment;
                    ``(B) identify characteristics and contributing 
                circumstances for suicide among public safety officers;
                    ``(C) disaggregate rates of suicide by--
                            ``(i) occupation;
                            ``(ii) status as volunteer, paid-on-call, 
                        or career, where available; and
                            ``(iii) status as active or retired, where 
                        available;
                    ``(D) include recommendations for further study 
                regarding the suicide incidence among public safety 
                officers;
                    ``(E) specify in detail, if found, any obstacles in 
                collecting suicide rates for volunteers and include 
                recommended improvements to overcome such obstacles;
                    ``(F) identify options for interventions to reduce 
                suicide among public safety officers; and
                    ``(G) describe procedures to ensure the 
                confidentiality and anonymity of suicide victims and 
                their families, as described in subsection (c)(1).
            ``(2) Public availability.--Upon the submission of each 
        report to the Congress under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 
        make the full report publicly available on the website of the 
        Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
    ``(e) Definition.--In this section, the term `public safety 
officer' means--
            ``(1) a public safety officer as defined in section 1204 of 
        the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968; or
            ``(2) a public safety telecommunicator as described in 
        detailed occupation 43-5031 in the Standard Occupational 
        Classification Manual of the Office of Management and Budget 
        (2018).
    ``(f) Prohibited Use of Information.--Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, if an individual is identified as deceased based on 
information contained in the Public Safety Officer Suicide Reporting 
System, such information may not be used to deny or rescind life 
insurance payments or other benefits to a survivor of the deceased 
individual.''.

SEC. 3. PEER-SUPPORT BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS PROGRAMS WITHIN 
              FIRE DEPARTMENTS AND EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE AGENCIES.

    (a) In General.--Part B of title III of the Public Health Service 
Act (42 U.S.C. 243 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:

``SEC. 320C. PEER-SUPPORT BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS PROGRAMS 
              WITHIN FIRE DEPARTMENTS AND EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE 
              AGENCIES.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary may award grants to eligible 
entities for the purpose of establishing or enhancing peer-support 
behavioral health and wellness programs within fire departments and 
emergency medical services agencies.
    ``(b) Program Description.--A peer-support behavioral health and 
wellness program funded under this section shall--
            ``(1) use career and volunteer members of fire departments 
        or emergency medical services agencies to serve as peer 
        counselors;
            ``(2) provide training to members of career, volunteer, and 
        combination fire departments or emergency medical service 
        agencies to serve as such peer counselors;
            ``(3) purchase materials to be used exclusively to provide 
        such training; or
            ``(4) disseminate such information and materials as are 
        necessary to conduct the program.
    ``(c) Definition.--In this section:
            ``(1) The term `eligible entity' means a nonprofit 
        organization with expertise and experience with respect to the 
        health and life safety of members of fire and emergency medical 
        services agencies.
            ``(2) The term `member'--
                    ``(A) with respect to an emergency medical services 
                agency, means an employee who is a member of a rescue 
                squad or ambulance crew (as defined in section 1204 of 
                title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 
                Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10284)), regardless of rank or 
                whether the employee receives compensation; and
                    ``(B) with respect to a fire department, means any 
                employee, regardless of rank or whether the employee 
                receives compensation, of a Federal, State, Tribal, or 
                local fire department who is responsible for responding 
                to calls for emergency service.''.
    (b) Technical Correction.--Effective as if included in the 
enactment of the Children's Health Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-310), 
the amendment instruction in section 1603 of such Act is amended by 
striking ``Part B of the Public Health Service Act'' and inserting 
``Part B of title III of the Public Health Service Act''.

SEC. 4. DEVELOPMENT OF RESOURCES FOR EDUCATING MENTAL HEALTH 
              PROFESSIONALS ABOUT TREATING FIRE FIGHTERS AND EMERGENCY 
              MEDICAL SERVICES PERSONNEL.

    (a) In General.--The Administrator, in consultation with the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall develop and make publicly 
available resources that may be used by the Federal Government and 
other entities to educate mental health professionals about--
            (1) the culture of Federal, State, Tribal, and local 
        career, volunteer, and combination fire departments and 
        emergency medical services agencies;
            (2) the different stressors experienced by firefighters and 
        emergency medical services personnel, supervisory firefighters 
        and emergency medical services personnel, and chief officers of 
        fire departments and emergency medical services agencies;
            (3) challenges encountered by retired firefighters and 
        emergency medical services personnel; and
            (4) evidence-based therapies for mental health issues 
        common to firefighters and emergency medical services personnel 
        within such departments and agencies.
    (b) Consultation.--In developing resources under subsection (a), 
the Administrator, in coordination with the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services, shall consult with national fire and emergency medical 
services organizations.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the United States Fire Administration.
            (2) Chief officer.--The term ``chief officer'' means any 
        individual who is responsible for the overall operation of a 
        fire department or an emergency medical services agency, 
        irrespective of whether such individual also serves as a 
        firefighter or emergency medical services personnel.
            (3) Emergency medical services personnel.--The term 
        ``emergency medical services personnel'' means an employee who 
        is a member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew (as defined in 
        section 1204 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
        Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10284)), regardless of rank or 
        whether the employee receives compensation.
            (4) Firefighter.--The term ``firefighter'' means any 
        employee, regardless of rank or whether the employee receives 
        compensation, of a Federal, State, Tribal, or local fire 
        department who is responsible for responding to calls for 
        emergency service.

SEC. 5. BEST PRACTICES AND OTHER RESOURCES FOR ADDRESSING POSTTRAUMATIC 
              STRESS DISORDER IN PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICERS.

    (a) Development; Updates.--The Secretary of Health and Human 
Services shall--
            (1) develop and assemble evidence-based best practices and 
        other resources to identify, prevent, and treat posttraumatic 
        stress disorder and co-occurring disorders in public safety 
        officers; and
            (2) reassess and update, as the Secretary determines 
        necessary, such best practices and resources, including based 
        upon the options for interventions to reduce suicide among 
        public safety officers identified in the annual reports 
        required by section 317V(d)(1)(F) of the Public Health Service 
        Act, as added by section 2 of this Act.
    (b) Consultation.--In developing, assembling, and updating the best 
practices and resources under subsection (a), the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services shall consult with, at a minimum, the following:
            (1) Public health experts.
            (2) Mental health experts with experience in studying 
        suicide and other profession-related traumatic stress.
            (3) Clinicians with experience in diagnosing and treating 
        mental health issues.
            (4) Relevant national police, fire, and emergency medical 
        services organizations.
    (c) Availability.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 
make the best practices and resources under subsection (a) available to 
Federal, State, and local fire, law enforcement, and emergency medical 
services agencies.
    (d) Federal Training and Development Programs.--The Secretary of 
Health and Human Services shall work with Federal departments and 
agencies, including the United States Fire Administration, to 
incorporate education and training on the best practices and resources 
under subsection (a) into Federal training and development programs for 
public safety officers.
    (e) Definition.--In this section, the term ``public safety 
officer'' means--
            (1) a public safety officer, as defined in section 1204 of 
        the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 
        U.S.C. 10284); or
            (2) a public safety telecommunicator, as described in 
        detailed occupation 43-5031 in the Standard Occupational 
        Classification Manual of the Office of Management and Budget 
        (2018).
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