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PEER Mental Health Act of 2025
To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, to award grants for peer mental health first aid, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to elementary schools, secondary schools, local educational agencies, and state educational agencies for peer mental health first aid training programs. Grant funds would support training for teachers, school personnel, students, parents, and caregivers to recognize symptoms of mental health conditions, refer students to appropriate services, and apply mental health first aid tactics when recognizing signs of mental distress. The grants would also fund education on available community resources for individuals with mental illness. At least 25 percent of grant funding must be allocated to schools in rural areas, and the bill authorizes $24.96 million annually for fiscal years 2026 through 2030.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
9 cosponsors
- Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large] (D-DC)
- Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick, Sheila [D-FL-20] (D-FL)
- Rep. García, Jesús G. "Chuy" [D-IL-4] (D-IL)
- Rep. Gottheimer, Josh [D-NJ-5] (D-NJ)
- Rep. Salinas, Andrea [D-OR-6] (D-OR)
- Rep. Sewell, Terri A. [D-AL-7] (D-AL)
- Rep. Thanedar, Shri [D-MI-13] (D-MI)
- Rep. Tonko, Paul [D-NY-20] (D-NY)
- Rep. Watson Coleman, Bonnie [D-NJ-12] (D-NJ)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Becca Balint’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $14,775
- STATE OF VERMONT $10,516
- INVARIANT $10,400
- GRASSROOTS ANALYTICS $6,817
- BEACHWOLD $5,600
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Becca Balint → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Feb 21, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. · house
- Feb 21, 2025 Introduced in House
More bills on these subjects (8)
Other bills that carry the most legislative subjects in common with this one (topical discovery — distinct from the procedural related bills above).
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 21, 2025
Ms. Balint (for herself, Ms. Salinas, and Ms. Norton) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, to award grants for peer mental health first aid, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Peer Education and Emergency Response for Mental Health Act of 2025” or the “PEER Mental Health Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR PEER MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID.
Title V of the Public Health Service Act is amended by inserting after section 520J of such Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb-41) the following:
“SEC. 520J-1. GRANTS FOR PEER MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID.
“(a) In General.—The Secretary shall award grants to eligible entities—
“(1) to train teachers, other relevant school personnel (including education support professionals), students, and parents and caregivers of students—
“(A) to recognize symptoms of childhood and adolescent mental health conditions;
“(B) to refer students to appropriate mental health services if necessary; and
“(C) to recognize signs of immediate mental distress and, upon recognizing such signs apply mental health first aid tactics; and
“(2) to provide education to such teachers, personnel, students, parents, and caregivers regarding resources that are available in the community for individuals with a mental illness.
“(b) Relation to Other Mental Health Awareness Training Grants.— An eligible entity may receive grant funds under this section in addition to receiving amounts made available to such eligible entity pursuant to section 520J.
“(c) Allocation for Schools in Rural Areas.—
“(1) In general.—In awarding grants under this section, the Secretary shall award not less than 25 percent of the amounts made available to carry out this section for a fiscal year to eligible entities that are elementary schools or secondary schools in rural areas or that are applying for grants on behalf of such schools.
“(2) Reallocation.—If the Secretary is unable to obligate the total amount of funds set aside under paragraph (1) for a fiscal year due to a lack of qualified applications from eligible applicants described in paragraph (1), the Secretary shall reallocate the remainder of such funds for making grants under this section to other eligible entities.
“(d) Application.—
“(1) In general.—To seek a grant under this section, an eligible entity shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require, including a plan for the rigorous evaluation of activities that are carried out with funds received through the grant.
“(2) Streamlined process.—The Secretary shall streamline the process for applying for a grant under this section so as to keep such process from imposing an unreasonable barrier, especially for eligible entities with limited personnel available to prepare a grant application.
“(e) Technical Assistance.—The Secretary shall provide technical assistance to eligible entities applying for, or receiving, grants under this section. Such technical assistance shall include the development and dissemination of best practices for providing training and education described in subsection (a).
“(f) Definition.—In this section:
“(1) The terms ‘elementary school’, ‘local educational agency’, ‘secondary school’, and ‘State educational agency’ have the meanings given to those terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
“(2) The term ‘eligible entity’ means an elementary school, a local educational agency, a secondary school, or a State educational agency.
“(3) The term ‘rural area’ refers to a rural area as defined by the Health Resources and Services Administration for purposes of awarding rural health grants.
“(g) Authorization of Appropriations.—To carry out this section, there is authorized to be appropriated $24,963,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030.”. <all>
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