YourVoice.Now Summary
Workers & JobsTransparency & AccountabilityYour MoneyCivil LibertiesMore mental health help for first responders and health workers — peer counseling grants, PTSD guides, and a suicide count
Workers & Jobs
Nonprofits that work on fire and EMS safety could get grants. They would train crew members to be peer counselors for each other. Paid and volunteer crews both count.
Hospitals, clinics, and other health care sites could get grants for counseling and peer support. The goal is to help staff cope after hard or upsetting patient cases.
Health officials would gather proven ways to spot, prevent, and treat PTSD in police, firefighters, EMTs, and 911 dispatchers. Agencies would get these tips. They would also be part of federal training.
Transparency & Accountability
Health officials must report to Congress on first responder suicides within two years. More reports would follow on a set schedule. Each full report would be posted online for anyone to read.
Your Money
Facts in the new suicide records could not be used to deny or take back life insurance. The same goes for other benefits owed to a family after a death.
Civil Liberties
The new records would have to follow federal privacy rules. The names of those who died and their families would be kept private. The data would be locked down so outsiders can't get in.
More about this bill
If you are a firefighter, EMT, police officer, or 911 dispatcher, the bill aims to expand mental health help for your job. Health care workers would be covered too. It would create new grants for peer counseling, where trained coworkers support each other after hard calls. The government could also build a national system to count suicides among first responders, both active and retired. Records would be kept anonymous. They could not be used to deny life insurance or other benefits to a family. Reports would be posted on the CDC website, with the first one due within two years. Health officials would also gather the best ways to prevent and treat PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) in first responders. The U.S. Fire Administration would make free guides that teach therapists about the stress firefighters and EMTs face. The bill names no dollar amounts. It has been introduced and sent to committees in the House.
Congressional Summary
Helping Emergency Responders Overcome Act or the HERO Act This bill establishes a series of programs relating to the behavioral health of law enforcement officers, first responders, 9-1-1 operators, and other public safety officers and health care providers. The programs include a public safety officer suicide-reporting system at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a grant program for peer-support behavioral health and wellness programs within fire departments and emergency medical services agencies, and a grant program for behavioral health and wellness programs for health care providers.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2025-03-06
- Date Added
- 2026-10-15
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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