[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2992 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
H.R.2992
One Hundred Seventeenth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,
the third day of January, two thousand and twenty-two
An Act
To direct the Attorney General to develop crisis intervention training
tools for use by first responders related to interacting with persons
who have a traumatic brain injury, another form of acquired brain
injury, or post-traumatic stress disorder, 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 ``Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-
Traumatic Stress Disorder Law Enforcement Training Act'' or the ``TBI
and PTSD Law Enforcement Training Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) According to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, there were approximately 2.9 million traumatic brain
injury-related emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and
deaths in the United States in 2014.
(2) Effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be short-term
or long-term, and include impaired thinking or memory, movement,
vision or hearing, or emotional functioning, such as personality
changes or depression.
(3) Currently, between 3.2 million and 5.3 million persons are
living with a TBI-related disability in the United States.
(4) About 7 or 8 percent of Americans will experience post-
traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point in their lives, and
about 8 million adults have PTSD during the course of a given year.
(5) TBI and PTSD have been recognized as the signature injuries
of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(6) According to the Department of Defense, 383,000 men and
women deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan sustained a brain injury
while in the line of duty between 2000 and 2018.
(7) Approximately 13.5 percent of Operations Iraqi Freedom and
Enduring Freedom veterans screen positive for PTSD, according to
the Department of Veteran Affairs.
(8) About 12 percent of Gulf War Veterans have PTSD in a given
year while about 30 percent of Vietnam Veterans have had PTSD in
their lifetime.
(9) Physical signs of TBI can include motor impairment,
dizziness or poor balance, slurred speech, impaired depth
perception, or impaired verbal memory, while physical signs of PTSD
can include agitation, irritability, hostility, hypervigilance,
self-destructive behavior, fear, severe anxiety, or mistrust.
(10) Physical signs of TBI and PTSD often overlap with physical
signs of alcohol or drug impairment, which complicate a first
responder's ability to quickly and effectively identify an
individual's condition.
SEC. 3. CREATION OF A TBI AND PTSD TRAINING FOR FIRST RESPONDERS.
Part HH of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets
Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10651 et seq.) is amended--
(1) in section 2991--
(A) in subsection (h)(1)(A), by inserting before the period
at the end the following: ``, including the training developed
under section 2993''; and
(B) in subsection (o), by amending paragraph (1) to read as
follows:
``(1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated to
the Department of Justice to carry out this section $54,000,000 for
each of fiscal years 2023 through 2027.''; and
(2) by inserting after section 2992 the following new section:
``SEC. 2993. CREATION OF A TBI AND PTSD TRAINING FOR FIRST RESPONDERS.
``(a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of the
enactment of this section, the Attorney General, acting through the
Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, in consultation with the
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the
Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, shall solicit
best practices regarding techniques to interact with persons who have a
traumatic brain injury, an acquired brain injury, or post-traumatic
stress disorder from first responder, brain injury, veteran, and mental
health organizations, health care and mental health providers, hospital
emergency departments, and other relevant stakeholders, and shall
develop crisis intervention training tools for use by first responders
(as such term is defined in section 3025) that provide--
``(1) information on the conditions and symptoms of a traumatic
brain injury, an acquired brain injury, and post-traumatic stress
disorder;
``(2) techniques to interact with persons who have a traumatic
brain injury, an acquired brain injury, or post-traumatic stress
disorder; and
``(3) information on how to recognize persons who have a
traumatic brain injury, an acquired brain injury, or post-traumatic
stress disorder.
``(b) Use of Training Tools at Law Enforcement Mental Health
Learning Sites.--The Attorney General shall ensure that not less than
one Law Enforcement Mental Health Learning Site designated by the
Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance uses the training tools
developed under subsection (a).
``(c) Police Mental Health Collaboration Toolkit.--The Attorney
General shall make the training tools developed under subsection (a)
available as part of the Police-Mental Health Collaboration Toolkit
provided by the Bureau of Justice Assistance.''.
SEC. 4. STUDY ON FIRST RESPONDERS WITH TBI.
Not later than 24 months after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the
Director of the National Institutes of Health and in consultation with
the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, shall
conduct a study and submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of
the House of Representatives and the Committee on Health, Education,
Labor and Pensions of the Senate a report on the prevalence and
incidence of concussion among first responders (as such term is defined
in section 3025 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Street Act of
1968 (34 U.S.C. 10705)). The report shall include data on the incidence
of concussion among first responders and recommendations for resources
for first responders who have experienced traumatic brain injury.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.