[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4585 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4585
To require the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention to conduct a national suicide prevention media campaign, and
for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 1, 2019
Mr. Beyer (for himself and Mr. Gianforte) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention to conduct a national suicide prevention media campaign, 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 ``Campaign to Prevent Suicide Act''.
SEC. 2. NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION LIFELINE.
Section 520E-3(b)(2) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C.
290bb-36c(b)(2)) is amended by inserting after ``suicide prevention
hotline'' the following: ``, which, beginning not later than one year
after the date of the enactment of the Campaign to Prevent Suicide Act,
shall be a 3-digit nationwide toll-free telephone number,''.
SEC. 3. NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION MEDIA CAMPAIGN.
(a) National Suicide Prevention Media Campaign.--
(1) In general.--Not later than the date that is three
years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director
of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (referred to
in this section as the ``Director''), in coordination with the
Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use
(referred to in this section as the ``Assistant Secretary''),
shall conduct a national suicide prevention media campaign
(referred to in this section as the ``national media
campaign''), in accordance with the requirements of this
section, for purposes of--
(A) preventing suicide in the United States;
(B) educating families, friends, and communities on
how to address suicide and suicidal thoughts, including
when to encourage individuals with suicidal risk to
seek help; and
(C) increasing awareness of suicide prevention
resources of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration (including the suicide
prevention hotline maintained under section 520E-3 of
the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb-36c)),
any suicide prevention mobile application of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the
Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration,
and other support resources determined appropriate by
the Director, in coordination with the Assistant
Secretary.
(2) Additional coordination.--In addition to coordinating
with the Assistant Secretary under this section, the Director
shall coordinate with State, local, Tribal, and territorial
health departments, primary health care providers, hospitals
with emergency departments, mental and behavioral health
services providers, crisis response services providers, first
responders, suicide prevention and mental health professionals,
patient advocacy groups, survivors of suicide attempts, and
representatives of television and social media platforms in
planning the national media campaign to be conducted under
paragraph (1).
(b) Target Audiences.--
(1) Tailoring advertisements and other communications.--In
conducting the national media campaign under subsection (a)(1),
the Director, in coordination with the Assistant Secretary, may
tailor culturally competent advertisements and other
communications of the campaign across all available media for a
target audience (such as a particular geographic location or
demographic) across the lifespan.
(2) Targeting certain local areas.--The Director, in
coordination with the Assistant Secretary, shall, to the
maximum extent practicable, use amounts made available under
subsection (f) for media that targets individuals in local
areas with higher suicide rates.
(c) Use of Funds.--
(1) Required uses.--
(A) In general.--The Director, in coordination with
the Assistant Secretary, shall use amounts made
available under subsection (f) for the following, with
respect to the national media campaign:
(i) The purchase of advertising time and
space, including the strategic planning for,
and accounting of, any such purchase.
(ii) Creative services and talent costs.
(iii) Advertising production costs.
(iv) Testing and evaluation of advertising.
(v) Evaluation of the effectiveness of the
national media campaign.
(vi) Operational and management expenses.
(vii) The creation of an educational
toolkit for television and social media
platforms to use in discussing suicide and
raising awareness about how to prevent suicide.
(B) Specific requirements.--
(i) Testing and evaluation of
advertising.--In testing and evaluating
advertising under subparagraph (A)(iv), the
Director, in coordination with the Assistant
Secretary, shall test all advertisements after
use in the national media campaign to evaluate
the extent to which such advertisements have
been effective in carrying out the purposes of
the national media campaign.
(ii) Evaluation of effectiveness of
national media campaign.--In evaluating the
effectiveness of the national media campaign
under subparagraph (A)(v), the Director, in
coordination with the Assistant Secretary,
shall take into account--
(I) the number of unique calls that
are made to the suicide prevention
hotline maintained under section 520E-3
of the Public Health Service Act (42
U.S.C. 290bb-36c) and assess whether
there are any State and regional
variations with respect to the capacity
to answer such calls;
(II) the number of unique
encounters with suicide prevention and
support resources of the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention and the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration and assess
engagement with such suicide prevention
and support resources;
(III) whether the national media
campaign has contributed to increased
awareness that suicidal individuals
should be engaged, rather than ignored;
(IV) whether the national media
campaign has contributed to any
reduction in suicide rates, reduction
in suicide attempts, reduction in
suicidal ideation, and increase in
self-outreach for support or outreach
for supporting others; and
(V) such other measures of
evaluation as the Director, in
coordination with the Assistant
Secretary, determines are appropriate.
(2) Optional uses.--The Director, in coordination with the
Assistant Secretary, may use amounts made available under
subsection (f) for the following, with respect to the national
media campaign:
(A) Partnerships with professional and civic
groups, community-based organizations, including faith-
based organizations, and Government or Tribal
organizations that the Director determines have
experience in suicide prevention, including the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration.
(B) Entertainment industry outreach, interactive
outreach, media projects and activities, public
information, news media outreach, outreach through
television programs, and corporate sponsorship and
participation.
(d) Prohibitions.--None of the amounts made available under
subsection (f) may be obligated or expended for any of the following:
(1) To supplant current suicide prevention campaigns.
(2) To supplant pro bono public service time donated by
national and local broadcasting networks for other public
service campaigns.
(3) For partisan political purposes, or to express advocacy
in support of or to defeat any clearly identified candidate,
clearly identified ballot initiative, or clearly identified
legislative or regulatory proposal.
(4) To fund advertising that features any elected
officials, persons seeking elected office, cabinet-level
officials, or other Federal officials employed pursuant to
section 213.3301 or 213.3302 of title 5, Code of Federal
Regulations (or any successor regulations).
(5) To fund advertising that does not contain a message
intended to prevent suicide or increase awareness of suicide
prevention resources.
(e) Report to Congress.--The Director, in coordination with the
Assistant Secretary, shall, with respect to the first year of the
national media campaign, submit to Congress a report that describes--
(1) the strategy of the national media campaign and whether
specific objectives of such campaign were accomplished,
including whether such campaign impacted the number of calls
made to lifeline crisis centers and the capacity of such
centers to manage such calls;
(2) steps taken to ensure that the national media campaign
operates in an effective and efficient manner consistent with
the overall strategy and focus of the national media campaign;
(3) plans to purchase advertising time and space;
(4) policies and practices implemented to ensure that
Federal funds are used responsibly to purchase advertising time
and space and eliminate the potential for waste, fraud, and
abuse; and
(5) all contracts entered into with a corporation, a
partnership, or an individual working on behalf of the national
media campaign.
(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--For purposes of carrying out
this section, there is authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for
each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024.
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