Sponsors (8)
Introduced March 25, 2026 by Brian Emanuel Schatz · Last progress March 25, 2026
The bill invests federal funds and standardized resources to expand suicide-prevention training, lethal-means counseling, and access to safe-storage devices—particularly for young people—while trading off limited funding scale, added administrative costs, and risks of privacy, stigma, and stakeholder bias that could limit participation or reach.
Healthcare students, trainees, and practicing clinicians will receive standardized, evidence-based training in suicide screening, communication, and lethal-means counseling, improving identification and early support for patients at risk of suicide.
Covered individuals and households could get reduced- or no-cost secure gun storage devices and safety equipment, lowering immediate access to lethal means in homes with at-risk people.
The bill provides federal funding and technical assistance to help states, schools, and organizations develop and adopt suicide-prevention curricula and training (authorizations of roughly $20M and $10M across programs), reducing financial barriers for implementation.
Households, patients, and members of enumerated identity groups may face privacy, stigma, or political concerns from firearm-related counseling, data collection, or the listing of protected identities as risk factors, which could deter participation or risk misuse of information.
Funding levels are limited and distribution rules (e.g., a 15% cap on funds for storage devices and relatively modest authorizations), which may restrict how broadly training, curricula, and hardware are deployed and leave many communities undercovered.
Implementing training programs, reporting requirements, device distribution, and cross-referenced statutory obligations will create administrative burdens and potential legal or operational delays for grantees and federal agencies, diverting time and resources from frontline services.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes HHS grants to expand suicide-prevention care and integrate lethal-means safety training into health education for people under 26, and funds a public best-practices website.
Creates grant programs and education initiatives to help reduce suicide among people under 26 by funding evidence-aligned care, training for health professionals, and integration of suicide-prevention and lethal-means safety into health education. It authorizes HHS to fund program implementation, provide technical assistance, require annual reporting through FY2030, and build a public website on best practices; limited funds may be used to provide secure gun-storage devices to households with covered individuals. Provides $30 million in total authorized funding for FY2027–FY2030 ($20M for health-care setting programs, $10M for health-education curriculum grants), requires HHS reports to Congress by the end of FY2030, and defines covered individuals (under 26) and covered risk factors for suicide and self-harm.