Title: Behavioral Intervention Guidelines Act of 2020
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Behavioral Intervention Guidelines Act of 2019
This bill requires the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to develop best practices for schools to establish behavioral intervention teams (i.e., experts who are responsible for identifying individuals of concern and addressing associated behavioral health issues so as to prevent harm to the individual or others). SAMHSA must also develop a list of providers with threat-assessment training to help school personnel implement the best practices.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3539 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3539

   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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 27, 2019

 Mr. Ferguson (for himself, Mr. Burgess, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. Panetta) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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.

    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 ``Behavioral Intervention Guidelines 
Act of 2019''.

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 INTERVENTION TEAMS.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary, acting through the Assistant 
Secretary, shall develop and periodically update--
            ``(1) best practices to assist elementary schools, 
        secondary schools, and institutions of higher education in 
        establishing and using behavioral intervention 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, including with respect to training 
        behavioral intervention teams.
    ``(b) Elements.--The best practices under subsection (a)(1) shall 
include guidance on the following:
            ``(1) How behavioral intervention teams can operate 
        effectively from an evidence-based, objective perspective 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 interventions, 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--
                    ``(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 process, or 
                impede a criminal process, when an individual of 
                concern's behavior has potential criminal 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 Assessment Center 
        of the Department of Homeland Security;
            ``(3) the Attorney General of the United States;
            ``(4) teachers and other educators, principals, school 
        administrators, school board members, school psychologists, 
        mental health professionals, and parents of elementary school 
        and secondary school students;
            ``(5) local law enforcement agencies and campus law 
        enforcement administrators;
            ``(6) mental health mobile crisis providers;
            ``(7) child and adolescent psychiatrists; and
            ``(8) other education and mental health professionals as 
        the Secretary deems appropriate.
    ``(d) Publication.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
enactment of this section, the Secretary shall publish the best 
practices under subsection (a)(1) and the list under subsection (a)(2) 
on a publicly accessible website of the Department of Health and Human 
Services.
    ``(e) Technical Assistance.--The Secretary shall provide technical 
assistance to institutions of higher education, elementary schools, and 
secondary schools to assist such institutions and schools in 
implementing the best practices under subsection (a).
    ``(f) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) The term `behavioral intervention team' means a team 
        of qualified individuals who--
                    ``(A) are responsible for identifying and assessing 
                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 individuals of concern 
                and address the mental and behavioral 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 Secondary 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, determining the 
        need for involuntary commitment, medication management, and on-
        going treatment recommendations.
            ``(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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