Sponsors (20)
Official title: To increase access to mental health, substance use, and counseling services for first responders, and for other purposes.
Introduced December 10, 2025 by Jill Tokuda · Last progress December 10, 2025
The bill expands crisis mental‑health supports and eligibility for first responders and their families—improving access and local capacity—but the limited funding, grant size limits, staffing requirements, and administrative/eligibility uncertainties could constrain reach and create implementation challenges.
Qualified emergency response providers (firefighters, EMS, police, transportation responders) gain 24/7 access to tailored mental health care and a confidential 988 hotline, improving immediate crisis support and reducing suicide risk.
Public safety telecommunicators (911 operators) become explicitly eligible for Stafford Act crisis counseling and training, extending post‑disaster support to an often-overlooked first‑line responder group.
Grants fund mobile, trauma‑informed, culturally competent crisis mental health units in major disaster areas, expanding short-term local crisis capacity in both urban and rural communities.
Expanding eligibility and creating new responder-focused programs while funding is limited (authorized $5M/year, 2026–2030) risks diluting available services, leaving unmet needs, or requiring additional federal spending.
The promised 24/7 confidential hotline depends on sustained staffing and training for 988; insufficient staffing would leave coverage gaps and reduce the intended safety benefits for responders.
The $150,000 per-grant cap and two-year limit may restrict the scale and longevity of mobile crisis units, limiting service reach during large or prolonged disasters.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Requires HHS/DHS to create a comprehensive 24/7 mental health, hotline, peer support, family outreach, and research program for qualified emergency response providers within two years.
Creates a federal program to expand mental health services for "qualified emergency response providers," defined to include traditional emergency responders and public safety telecommunicators. It requires HHS (through SAMHSA) and the Secretary (in related homeland security chapters) to stand up 24/7 mental health care, a confidential toll-free hotline routed through the 988 Lifeline, family outreach and education, peer support using active and retired responders, and research on best practices within two years of enactment. The law mainly updates Stafford Act definitions to explicitly include public safety telecommunicators as qualified emergency response providers and directs federal agencies to develop tailored suicide prevention, stigma-reduction, and coping-skills programs and research—but does not appropriate specific funding amounts in the text provided.