Sponsors (37)
The bill expands and standardizes mental‑health and suicide‑prevention supports for public safety officers and healthcare workers—improving prevention, treatment, and training—while increasing federal costs, raising privacy risks around sensitive data, and risking uneven implementation for smaller or under‑resourced providers.
Public safety officers (police, firefighters, EMS, and telecommunicators) will gain expanded access to evidence‑based mental‑health supports, peer‑support programs, and PTSD guidance to help prevent suicide, identify PTSD, and improve treatment.
Healthcare workers (including hospital and FQHC staff) will get confidential counseling, wellness programs, and federal support for onsite peer‑counselor training to reduce burnout and improve patient care.
A national registry will track suicides among public safety officers and publish reports on contributing circumstances and intervention options, improving understanding of trends and informing targeted prevention policy and programs.
The bill will increase federal spending (registry, grants, training, and program administration) without specifying authorization or dedicated offsets, raising potential costs for taxpayers.
Collecting and publishing sensitive suicide data creates privacy and confidentiality risks (including possible identification of small volunteer/retiree subgroups) that could harm families or colleagues if safeguards fail.
Implementation and uptake may be uneven—data gaps (especially for volunteers/retirees), non‑binding guidance, and variable local capacity could leave rural, small, or under‑resourced departments and some officers without improved supports.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a national public safety officer suicide reporting system, funds peer-support behavioral health programs for responders and health care providers, and creates PTSD/clinician resources.
Introduced March 6, 2025 by Ami Bera · Last progress March 6, 2025
Authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services to build a national suicide reporting system for public safety officers, require regular public reports with disaggregated data, and prohibit use of identifying data to deny survivor benefits. Creates grant programs to fund peer-support and behavioral health programs for fire departments, EMS agencies, and health care providers, and directs federal agencies to produce and share PTSD and responder-culture resources and clinician guidance tailored to first responders.