Sec. 401. Interagency Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee

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Title V of the Public Health Service Act is amended by inserting after section 501 the following: The Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders (in this section referred to as the Assistant Secretary ) shall establish a committee, to be known as the Interagency Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee (in this section referred to as the Committee ), to assist the Assistant Secretary in carrying out the Assistant Secretary's duties. The Committee shall— develop and annually update a summary of advances in serious mental illness research related to prevention of, diagnosis of, intervention in, and treatment and rehabilitation of, serious mental illness, and access to services and supports for individuals with serious mental illness; monitor Federal programs and activities with respect to serious mental illness; make recommendations to the Assistant Secretary regarding any appropriate changes to such activities, including recommendations to the Director of NIH with respect to the strategic plan developed under paragraph (5); make recommendations to the Assistant Secretary regarding public participation in decisions relating to serious mental illness; develop and update every 3 years a strategic plan for the conduct and support of programs and services to assist individuals with serious mental illness, including— a summary of the advances in serious mental illness research developed in under paragraph (1); a list of the Federal programs and activities identified in paragraph (2); an analysis of the efficiency, effectiveness, quality, coordination, and cost-effectiveness of Federal programs and activities relating to the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, or rehabilitation of serious mental illness, including an accounting of the costs of such programs and activities with administrative costs disaggregated from the costs of services and care; and a plan with recommendations— for the coordination and improvement of Federal programs and activities related to serious mental illness, including budgetary requirements; for improving outcomes for individuals with a serious mental illness including appropriate benchmarks to measure progress on achieving improvements; for the mental health workforce; to disseminate relevant information developed by the coordinating committee to the public, health care providers, social service providers, public health officials, courts, law enforcement, and other relevant groups; to identify research needs, including longitudinal studies of pediatric populations; and for vulnerable and underserved populations, including pediatric and geriatric populations; and submit to Congress such strategic plan and any updates to such plan.

The Committee shall be composed of not more than 9 Federal representatives including— the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders (or the Assistant Secretary's designee), who shall serve as the Chair of the Committee; the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (or the Director's designee); the Attorney General of the United States (or the Attorney General's designee); the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (or the Director's designee); the Director of the National Institutes of Health (or the Director's designee); a member of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness; representatives, appointed by the Assistant Secretary, of Federal agencies that serve individuals with serious mental illness, including representatives of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Administration on Community Living, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Department of Defense, the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Labor, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Social Security Administration; and the additional members appointed under paragraph (2).

At least 14 members of the Committee shall be non-Federal public members appointed by the Assistant Secretary, of which— at least 1 member shall be an individual in recovery from a diagnosis of serious mental illness who has benefitted from and is receiving medical treatment under the care of a licensed mental health professional; at least 1 member shall be a parent or legal guardian of an individual with a history of serious mental illness who has either attempted suicide or is incarcerated for violence committed while experiencing a serious mental illness; at least 1 member shall be a representative of a leading research, advocacy, and service organization for individuals with serious mental illness; at least 2 members shall be— a licensed psychiatrist with experience treating serious mental illness; a licensed psychologist with experience treating serious mental illness; a licensed clinical social worker; or a licensed psychiatric nurse or nurse practitioner; at least 1 member shall be a mental health professional with a significant focus in his or her practice on working with children and adolescents; at least 1 member shall be a mental health professional who has demonstrated cultural competencies and has research or clinical mental health experience working with minorities; at least 1 member shall be a State certified mental health peer specialist; at least 1 member shall be a judge with experience adjudicating cases related to criminal justice and serious mental illness; at least 1 member shall be a law enforcement officer or corrections officer with extensive experience in interfacing with psychiatric and psychological disorders or individuals in mental health crisis; and 4 members, of which— 1 shall be appointed by the majority leader of the Senate; 1 shall be appointed by the minority leader of the Senate; 1 shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and 1 shall be appointed by the minority leader of the House of Representatives.

Not later than 1 year after the date of release of the first strategic plan under subsection (b)(5) and annually thereafter, the Committee shall submit a report to Congress— evaluating the impact on public health of projects addressing priority mental health needs of regional and national significance under sections 501, 509, 516, and 520A, including measurement of public health outcomes such as— reduced rates of suicide, suicide attempts, substance abuse, overdose, overdose deaths, emergency hospitalizations, emergency room boarding (as defined in section 1912(e)), incarceration, crime, arrest, homelessness, and joblessness; increased rates of employment and enrollment in educational and vocational programs; and such other criteria as may be determined by the Assistant Secretary; formulating recommendations for the coordination and improvement of Federal programs and activities described in paragraph (2); identifying any such programs and activities that are duplicative; and summarizing all recommendations made, activities carried out, and results achieved pursuant to the workforce development strategy under section 101(c)(8) of the Mental Health Reform Act of 2015 .

The following provisions shall apply with respect to the Committee: The Assistant Secretary shall provide such administrative support to the Committee as may be necessary for the Committee to carry out its responsibilities. Members of the Committee appointed under subsection (c)(2) shall serve for a term of 4 years, and may be reappointed for one or more additional 4-year terms. Any member appointed to fill a vacancy for an unexpired term shall be appointed for the remainder of such term.

A member may serve after the expiration of the member's term until a successor has taken office. The Committee shall meet at the call of the chair or upon the request of the Assistant Secretary. The Committee shall meet not fewer than 2 times each year. All meetings of the Committee shall be public and shall include appropriate time periods for questions and presentations by the public. In carrying out its functions, the Committee may establish subcommittees and convene workshops and conferences.

Such subcommittees shall be composed of Committee members and may hold such meetings as are necessary to enable the subcommittees to carry out their duties. .