HERO Act 2023-06-12 Introduced in Senate Helping Emergency Responders Overcome Act or the HERO Act

This bill establishes and authorizes behavioral health programs for law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical services personnel, 9-1-1 operators, and other public safety officers.

Specifically, the Fire Administration within the Federal Emergency Management Agency must develop resources for educating mental health care providers about treating firefighters and emergency medical services personnel.

In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must develop best practices and resources for identifying, preventing, and treating post-traumatic stress disorder and co-occurring disorders in public safety officers. HHS must work with relevant federal departments to incorporate these resources into federal training programs for public safety officers.

The bill also authorizes HHS to set up a public safety officer suicide-reporting system and a grant program for peer-support behavioral health and wellness programs within fire departments and emergency medical services agencies.

]]> text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.