Sponsors (46)
Official title: To direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a grant program to facilitate the installation, on certain infrastructure, of evidence-based suicide deterrents, including suicide prevention nets and barriers, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 20, 2025 by Donald Sternoff Beyer · Last progress May 20, 2025
The bill provides targeted federal funding and evidence-based guidance to reduce suicides at high-risk structures, but limited annual funding, required local cost-sharing, administrative discretion, and potential property-rights impacts may constrain who benefits and how broadly installations are implemented.
People who use or visit identified high-risk structures (commuters, residents, youth, and other vulnerable individuals) will face a lower risk of suicide attempts and deaths because the bill funds installation of proven physical deterrents (nets, barriers) at those sites.
State, tribal, and local governments will receive federal grants covering up to 80% of project costs, reducing the fiscal burden on local budgets and making safety improvements more feasible.
Federal dollars are targeted to areas with higher suicide rates, focusing limited funds where interventions are likely to have the greatest impact.
Many high-risk sites nationwide may remain unfunded because the program is capped at $10 million per year (FY2026–2030), which is unlikely to cover large-scale installations across jurisdictions.
Local governments, especially low-income and rural jurisdictions, must provide at least a 20% match, which could strain tight local budgets and limit which communities can participate.
Because grant eligibility and application details are left largely to the Secretary's discretion, access could be uneven and create uncertainty for jurisdictions seeking funding.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Creates a DOT grant program (up to 80% federal share) to fund evidence-based suicide deterrents at bridges, buildings, garages, crossings, and rail stations and orders a GAO study.
Creates a federal grant program to pay for evidence-based suicide deterrents — such as nets and barriers — at locations where people commonly attempt suicide by jumping, including bridges, buildings, parking garages, highway-rail grade crossings, and rail stations. The program is to be set up by the Department of Transportation within one year, pays up to 80% of project costs, and is authorized at $10 million per year for fiscal years 2026–2030, with priority for high-suicide-rate areas. Directs the Government Accountability Office to study non-bridge structures that attract jumping attempts, evaluate deterrent types and other prevention methods, measure effectiveness, identify typical installers, and estimate costs, and to report results to Congress within one year. Also makes a targeted amendment to Title 23 (text not shown in the summary provided).