Sponsors (3)
Directs HHS to convene an interagency working group to review peer-support behavioral health best practices for law enforcement and first responders and report recommendations to Congress within one year.
Official title: To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, to establish an interagency working group on peer-to-peer behavioral health programs for law enforcement officers and first responders, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 23, 2026 by Suhas Subramanyam · Last progress April 23, 2026
The bill promotes standardized, evidence-based peer support and better links to clinical care for first responders—likely improving behavioral-health outcomes—but does so with open-ended federal funding, limited long-term oversight, and potential confidentiality trade-offs.
Law enforcement officers, firefighters, and EMS personnel will gain access to improved, evidence-based peer support models tailored to their occupational needs, which can reduce suicide risk and untreated behavioral health conditions.
Local and state agencies will receive a publicly available report and minimum standards, helping them implement more consistent training, program quality controls, and confidentiality protections for responder peer-support programs across jurisdictions.
First responders and patients with mental health or substance-use needs could see better coordination with licensed clinicians and clearer opportunities for federal grant guidance, increasing connections to professional care.
Taxpayers face open-ended federal spending because the bill authorizes 'such sums as may be necessary' for HHS activities without a defined budgetary limit.
A one-year timeline and a sunsetting working group could limit sustained implementation oversight, meaning recommendations may go unmonitored unless the Secretary reconvenes the group or takes further action.
Interagency reviews that include law enforcement and justice officials may raise confidentiality and privacy concerns for responders, creating potential tension between privacy protections and operational or legal requirements.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires the HHS Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use to convene an interagency working group to review best practices for peer-to-peer behavioral health programs targeted to law enforcement and other first responders, and to deliver updated recommendations to Congress within one year to improve mental health outcomes including suicide prevention and substance-use supports. The group must evaluate program models, confidentiality and training standards, clinical integration, include federal and nonfederal representatives, publish a report online, and may be reconvened; appropriations are authorized as needed.