PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Mar 28, 2022
9-8-8 and Parity Assistance Act of 2022
This bill modifies provisions to increase access to behavioral health services, with a focus on crisis services and the 9-8-8 telecommunication system. (The 9-8-8 system provides callers with mental health or suicide crisis support and resources through the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and is scheduled to take effect by July 16, 2022.)
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) must award grants to crisis call centers for hiring and training staff and otherwise improving operations.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Further, SAMHSA must establish standards for a behavioral health crisis continuum of care that health care providers and communities may use in responding to individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis. The continuum must include emergency treatment, stabilization, and related services.
Additionally, the bill (1) sets up an office within SAMHSA to coordinate behavioral health activities, (2) requires a national suicide prevention media campaign, and (3) establishes various grants. The grants include
a pilot program for mobile crisis care teams that respond to behavioral health crises rather than law enforcement,
a capital improvement program for certain behavioral health facilities, and
a program for supporting the implementation of federal mental health parity provisions that require health insurance issuers to provide equivalent coverage for mental health services as they provide for medical and surgical services.
The bill also expands certain behavioral health education and training programs to encompass education and training related to crisis management.
People & committees
Rep. Cárdenas, Tony [D-CA-29] · 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 Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Apr 7, 2025. 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.7232 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.7232 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.7232 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.7232 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.