Campaign to Prevent Suicide Act
Bill: H.R.2862 | Sponsor: Rep. Beyer, Donald S., Jr. (D-VA)
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Campaign to Prevent Suicide Act
This bill requires the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop, implement, and evaluate a national media campaign focused on suicide prevention.

To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a 
  national suicide prevention media campaign, 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 ``Campaign to Prevent Suicide Act''.

SEC. 2. NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION LIFELINE.

    Section 520E-3(b)(2) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
290bb-36c(b)(2)) is amended by inserting after ``suicide prevention 
hotline'' the following: ``, under the universal telephone number 
designated under section 251(e)(4) of the Communications Act of 
1934,''.

SEC. 3. NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION MEDIA CAMPAIGN.

    (a) National Suicide Prevention Media Campaign.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than the date that is 3 years 
        after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
        Health and Human Services (referred to in this section as the 
        ``Secretary''), in consultation with the Assistant Secretary 
        for Mental Health and Substance Use (referred to in this 
        section as the ``Assistant Secretary'') and the Director of the 
        Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (referred to in this 
        section as the ``Director''), shall conduct a national suicide 
        prevention media campaign (referred to in this section as the 
        ``national media campaign''), in accordance with the 
        requirements of this section, for purposes of--
                    (A) preventing suicide in the United States;
                    (B) educating families, friends, and communities on 
                how to address suicide and suicidal thoughts, including 
                when to encourage individuals with suicidal risk to 
                seek help; and
                    (C) increasing awareness of suicide prevention 
                resources of the Centers for Disease Control and 
                Prevention and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health 
                Services Administration (including the suicide 
                prevention hotline maintained under section 520E-3 of 
                the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb-36c)), 
                any suicide prevention mobile application of the 
                Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the 
                Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, 
                and other support resources determined appropriate by 
                the Secretary.
            (2) Additional consultation.--In addition to consulting 
        with the Assistant Secretary and the Director under this 
        section, the Secretary shall consult with, as appropriate, 
        State, local, Tribal, and territorial health departments, 
        primary health care providers, hospitals with emergency 
        departments, mental and behavioral health services providers, 
        crisis response services providers, first responders, suicide 
        prevention and mental health professionals, patient advocacy 
        groups, survivors of suicide attempts, and representatives of 
        television and social media platforms in planning the national 
        media campaign to be conducted under paragraph (1).
    (b) Target Audiences.--
            (1) Tailoring advertisements and other communications.--In 
        conducting the national media campaign under subsection (a)(1), 
        the Secretary may tailor culturally competent advertisements 
        and other communications of the campaign across all available 
        media for a target audience (such as a particular geographic 
        location or demographic) across the lifespan.
            (2) Targeting certain local areas.--The Secretary shall, to 
        the maximum extent practicable, use amounts made available 
        under subsection (f) for media that targets certain local areas 
        or populations at disproportionate risk for suicide.
    (c) Use of Funds.--
            (1) Required uses.--
                    (A) In general.--The Secretary shall, if reasonably 
                feasible with the funds made available under subsection 
                (f), carry out the following, with respect to the 
                national media campaign:
                            (i) Testing and evaluation of advertising.
                            (ii) Evaluation of the effectiveness of the 
                        national media campaign.
                            (iii) Operational and management expenses.
                            (iv) The creation of an educational toolkit 
                        for television and social media platforms to 
                        use in discussing suicide and raising awareness 
                        about how to prevent suicide.
                    (B) Specific requirements.--
                            (i) Testing and evaluation of 
                        advertising.--In testing and evaluating 
                        advertising under subparagraph (A)(i), the 
                        Secretary shall test all advertisements after 
                        use in the national media campaign to evaluate 
                        the extent to which such advertisements have 
                        been effective in carrying out the purposes of 
                        the national media campaign.
                            (ii) Evaluation of effectiveness of 
                        national media campaign.--In evaluating the 
                        effectiveness of the national media campaign 
                        under subparagraph (A)(ii), the Secretary shall 
                        take into account--
                                    (I) the number of unique calls that 
                                are made to the suicide prevention 
                                hotline maintained under section 520E-3 
                                of the Public Health Service Act (42 
                                U.S.C. 290bb-36c) and assess whether 
                                there are any State and regional 
                                variations with respect to the capacity 
                                to answer such calls;
                                    (II) the number of unique 
                                encounters with suicide prevention and 
                                support resources of the Centers for 
                                Disease Control and Prevention and the 
                                Substance Abuse and Mental Health 
                                Services Administration and assess 
                                engagement with such suicide prevention 
                                and support resources;
                                    (III) whether the national media 
                                campaign has contributed to increased 
                                awareness that suicidal individuals 
                                should be engaged, rather than ignored; 
                                and
                                    (IV) such other measures of 
                                evaluation as the Secretary determines 
                                are appropriate.
            (2) Optional uses.--The Secretary may use amounts made 
        available under subsection (f) for the following, with respect 
        to the national media campaign:
                    (A) Partnerships with professional and civic 
                groups, community-based organizations, including faith-
                based organizations, and Government or Tribal 
                organizations that the Secretary determines have 
                experience in suicide prevention, including the 
                Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 
                Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and 
                Prevention.
                    (B) Entertainment industry outreach, interactive 
                outreach, media projects and activities, public 
                information, news media outreach, outreach through 
                television programs, and corporate sponsorship and 
                participation.
    (d) Prohibitions.--None of the amounts made available under 
subsection (f) may be obligated or expended for any of the following:
            (1) To supplant current suicide prevention campaigns.
            (2) For partisan political purposes, or to express advocacy 
        in support of or to defeat any clearly identified candidate, 
        clearly identified ballot initiative, or clearly identified 
        legislative or regulatory proposal.
    (e) Report to Congress.--Not later than 18 months after 
implementation of the national media campaign has begun, the Secretary, 
in coordination with the Assistant Secretary and the Director, shall, 
with respect to the first year of the national media campaign, submit 
to Congress a report that describes--
            (1) the strategy of the national media campaign and whether 
        specific objectives of such campaign were accomplished, 
        including whether such campaign impacted the number of calls 
        made to lifeline crisis centers and the capacity of such 
        centers to manage such calls;
            (2) steps taken to ensure that the national media campaign 
        operates in an effective and efficient manner consistent with 
        the overall strategy and focus of the national media campaign;
            (3) plans to purchase advertising time and space;
            (4) policies and practices implemented to ensure that 
        Federal funds are used responsibly to purchase advertising time 
        and space and eliminate the potential for waste, fraud, and 
        abuse; and
            (5) all contracts entered into with a corporation, a 
        partnership, or an individual working on behalf of the national 
        media campaign.
    (f) Authorization of Appropriations.--For purposes of carrying out 
this section, there is authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for 
each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026.

            Passed the House of Representatives May 12, 2021.

            Attest:

                                             CHERYL L. JOHNSON,

                                                                 Clerk.