Congressman DeSaulnier Introduces Comprehensive Legislation to Tackle Nation’s Mental Health Crisis

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, introduced the Mental Health Matters Act (H.R. 10564), comprehensive legislation to help tackle our nation’s mental health crisis by increasing access to supports, services, and resources, for children, students, workers, and families by strengthening school-based behavioral health care, bolstering mental health parity protections, and ensuring access to mental health and substance use disorder benefits for workers and families.

“Mental health care is health care, and with one in five adults and one in six children experiencing mental illness each year, it’s imperative we take bold, comprehensive action to get quality support and resources to the millions of Americans in need,” said Congressman DeSaulnier. “Having lost my dad to suicide, I am honored to introduce legislation to help other families by employing evidence-based resources to tackle the mental health crisis plaguing this country.”

Specifically, this bill would:

• Increase the number of mental health professionals serving in high-need schools and help to build a pipeline of school-based mental health service providers;
• Help state educational agencies recruit and retain school-based mental health services providers at high-need public schools;
• Require institutions of higher education to increase transparency around the accommodations process and allow incoming students with existing documentation of a disability to access disability accommodations;
• Increase students' access to evidence-based trauma support and mental health services through innovation by linking schools and districts with local trauma-informed support and mental health systems;
• Require the Department of Health and Human Services to identify evidence-based interventions to improve the health of children and staff in Head Start programs, and help Head Start agencies implement these interventions;
• Strengthen the capacity of the Department of Labor to ensure that private, employer-sponsored group health plans provide mental health and substance use disorder benefits under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA); and
• Strengthen the ability of people with private, employer-sponsored health and retirement plans to hold plan sponsors accountable when they are improperly denied mental health and substance use disorder benefits.

Congressman DeSaulnier is a senior member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. He previously introduced this bill in 2022, and it went on to pass the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 220-to-205.