PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Congressional Research Service
No official summary is available in the imported record yet.
People & committees
Rep. Barragán, Nanette Diaz [D-CA-44] · D–CA
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
Source last updated: Sep 28, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze H.R.10246 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine H.R.10246 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine H.R.10246 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine H.R.10246 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.
PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2026-09-03 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
This bill would create federal grants for construction and improvements to facilities serving people experiencing mental health or substance use crises. Eligible recipients would include certain health centers, crisis facilities and crisis call centers. The money could also cover repayment of construction or improvement loans and their interest. The bill would authorize $1 billion in funding, but authorization alone does not provide that money.
(a) In general The Secretary shall award grants to eligible entities for capital projects.
(1) a health center funded under section 330, or in the case of a Tribe or Tribal organization, eligible, to be awarded without regard to the time limitation in subsection (e)(3) and subsections (e)(6)(A)(iii), (e)(6)(B)(iii), and (r)(2)(B) of such section; or (2) a crisis receiving and stabilization facility or crisis call center that has a working relationship with one or more local community mental health and substance use organizations, community mental health centers, and certified community behavioral health clinics, or other local mental health and substance use care providers, including inpatient and residential treatment settings.
(c) Use of funds Amounts made available to a recipient of a grant or cooperative agreement pursuant to subsection (a) shall be used for crisis response program facility alteration, renovation, remodeling, expansion, new construction, and other capital improvement costs, including the costs of amortizing the principal of, and paying interest on, loans for such purposes.
(e) Authorization of appropriations There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $1,000,000,000, to remain available until expended.
Section 1 would name the legislation the “9–8–8 Community Infrastructure Act.” Section 2 would add a health center capital grant program to the Public Health Service Act and direct the Secretary to award grants for buildings and other capital projects.
1. Short title This Act may be cited as the 9–8–8 Community Infrastructure Act.
2. Health center capital grants Subpart 1 of part D of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 330Q. Health center capital grants (a) In general The Secretary shall award grants to eligible entities for capital projects.
The health center eligibility route would cover centers funded under section 330 and, for Tribes or Tribal organizations, those eligible for that funding. This clause also says awards would disregard specified section 330 restrictions, including a time limit. The referenced restrictions are not reproduced in the supplied text.
(b) Eligible entity In this section, the term eligible entity is an entity that is— (1) a health center funded under section 330, or in the case of a Tribe or Tribal organization, eligible, to be awarded without regard to the time limitation in subsection (e)(3) and subsections (e)(6)(A)(iii), (e)(6)(B)(iii), and (r)(2)(B) of such section;
Crisis receiving and stabilization facilities and crisis call centers could also qualify. They would need a working relationship with local mental health or substance use care providers, including the types of community, inpatient and residential providers listed in the bill.
(2) a crisis receiving and stabilization facility or crisis call center that has a working relationship with one or more local community mental health and substance use organizations, community mental health centers, and certified community behavioral health clinics, or other local mental health and substance use care providers, including inpatient and residential treatment settings.
Recipients would have to use the money for crisis response facility alterations, renovation, remodeling, expansion, new construction or other capital improvements. Permitted costs would include paying down loan principal—the amount borrowed—and paying interest on loans for those purposes.
(c) Use of funds Amounts made available to a recipient of a grant or cooperative agreement pursuant to subsection (a) shall be used for crisis response program facility alteration, renovation, remodeling, expansion, new construction, and other capital improvement costs, including the costs of amortizing the principal of, and paying interest on, loans for such purposes.
A qualifying crisis receiving and stabilization facility would have to be freestanding, outside a hospital, and qualify for state licensure or certification. It would need 23-hour observation and assessment chairs or beds, plus 48-hour psychiatric crisis stabilization beds that include withdrawal management and 24-hour medical monitoring. Its average stay would have to be under 150 hours.
(1) Crisis receiving and stabilization facility The term crisis receiving and stabilization facility means a freestanding, non-hospital facility that— (A) qualifies for licensure or certification as a crisis receiving and stabilization facility, pursuant to State law of the State in which such facility furnishes crisis response services; (B) provides 23-hour observation and assessment chairs or beds and 48-hour crisis stabilization psychiatric beds inclusive of withdrawal management and 24-hour medical monitoring;
(E) maintains an average length-of-stay of less than 150 hours.
These stabilization facilities would have to provide crisis services around the clock, with charges adjusted on a sliding scale. They could not reject or limit services because of ability to pay, residence, prior justice-system involvement, severity of a mental health or substance use condition, intellectual or developmental disability, age or related factors. They would also need admission access for people brought by law enforcement, emergency medical personnel or family members.
(C) provides crisis response services 24 hours per day, 7 days per week using a sliding scale of payment, and neither rejects service nor limits services on the basis of a patient’s ability to pay, place of residence, prior forensic engagement, acuity of mental health or substance use condition, intellectual or developmental disability, age or related factors; (D) supports no-wrong-door admission capacity available to law enforcement officers, emergency medical personnel, and family members;
Facilities supported by the program would serve people experiencing mental health or substance use crises, expressly including children and adolescents. Covered services could be furnished by mobile crisis teams, crisis receiving and stabilization facilities, mental health or substance use urgent care facilities, or other providers the Secretary considers appropriate.
(2) Crisis response program facility The term crisis response program facility means a facility used for the purposes of mental health or substance use services that are furnished to an individual, including children and adolescents, experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis by— (A) a mobile crisis response team; (B) a crisis receiving and stabilization facility; (C) a mental health or substance use urgent care facility; or (D) other appropriate provider, as determined by the Secretary.
The bill defines mental health and substance use urgent care facilities as outpatient facilities where people in a mental or behavioral health crisis can receive assessment, crisis intervention, medication and connections to other appropriate services without a prior appointment.
(3) Mental health and substance use urgent care facility The term mental health and substance use urgent care facility means an ambulatory facility in which individuals experiencing a mental or behavioral health crisis may receive crisis assessment services, crisis intervention services, medication, and connection to other appropriate services, without making an appointment prior to arriving at the facility.
The bill would authorize Congress to provide $1 billion for the program. Funds appropriated under this authority would remain available until spent, rather than expiring on a specified calendar date.
(e) Authorization of appropriations There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $1,000,000,000, to remain available until expended.
The supplied official-actions snapshot, updated September 28, 2026, records introduction in the House and referral to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on September 3, 2026.
Source snapshot updated 2026-09-28T21:30:41Z. 2026-09-03: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. 2026-09-03: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2026-09-03. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy rider was identified in the supplied complete introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for a particular recipient or place was identified in the supplied complete introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version; formal earmark status in accompanying materials is not established.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
Findings to examine
The supplied text contains a distinct eligibility accommodation for a specified class of applicants within the main grant program. This classification does not assess whether the accommodation is justified.
Tribes and Tribal organizations would receive a special eligibility route: under the health center branch of eligibility, being eligible for section 330 funding would suffice, while the text otherwise requires a health center to be funded under that section. This could allow qualifying Tribal applicants without current section 330 funding to seek the capital grants. The underlying section 330 eligibility rules are not supplied.
(b) Eligible entity In this section, the term eligible entity is an entity that is— (1) a health center funded under section 330, or in the case of a Tribe or Tribal organization, eligible, to be awarded without regard to the time limitation in subsection (e)(3) and subsections (e)(6)(A)(iii), (e)(6)(B)(iii), and (r)(2)(B) of such section;
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Sep 28, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI