About the bill
Currently only victims of “major disasters” are covered, but not “emergency declarations.”
Context
The Crisis Counseling Program is available to address the mental health needs of people for up to nine months after they experience a natural disaster. The program is funded by grants from FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) and run by states, territories, and tribes. The program is activated in areas after a presidential major disaster declaration.
There are two main types of disaster declarations: “major disasters” and “emergency declarations.” The president determines both, with the former generally reserved for events with greater monetary damage and longer-duration effects, such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The latter is usually more limited in scope and duration and cannot exceed $5 million in federal assistance, such as the Boston …
Sponsor and status
117th Congress (2021–2023)
This bill was introduced on April 28, 2022, in a previous session of Congress, but it did not receive a vote.
Although this bill was not enacted, its provisions could have become law by being included in another bill. It is common for legislative text to be introduced concurrently in multiple bills (called companion bills), re-introduced in subsequent sessions of Congress in new bills, or added to larger bills (sometimes called omnibus bills).
15 Cosponsors (9 Republicans, 6 Democrats)
Position statements
What legislators are saying
“Pressley, Chylinski in Op-Ed: Nearly 10 years after the Boston Marathon bombing, a survivor and her congresswoman fight for healing”
—
Rep. Ayanna Pressley [D-MA7]
(Sponsor)
on Apr 18, 2022
“the weekly leader: friday, september 23, 2022”
—
Rep. Steny Hoyer [D-MD5]
on Sep 23, 2022
History
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Oct 22, 2021
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Introduced
Bills and resolutions are referred to committees which debate the bill before possibly sending it on to the whole chamber. |
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Apr 28, 2022
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Ordered Reported
A committee has voted to issue a report to the full chamber recommending that the bill be considered further. Only about 1 in 4 bills are reported out of committee.
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Sep 23, 2022
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Text Published
Updated bill text was published as of Preprint (Suspension). |
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Sep 28, 2022
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Reported by House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
A committee issued a report on the bill, which often provides helpful explanatory background on the issue addressed by the bill and the bill's intentions. |
H.R. 5703 (117th) was a bill in the United States Congress.
A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the President to become law.
Bills numbers restart every two years. That means there are other bills with the number H.R. 5703. This is the one from the 117th Congress.
This bill was introduced in the 117th Congress, which met from Jan 3, 2021 to Jan 3, 2023. Legislation not passed by the end of a Congress is cleared from the books.
How to cite this information.
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“H.R. 5703 — 117th Congress: Post-Disaster Mental Health Response Act.” www.GovTrack.us. 2021. October 3, 2023 <https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/hr5703>
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Where is this information from?
GovTrack automatically collects legislative information from a variety of governmental and non-governmental sources. This page is sourced primarily from Congress.gov, the official portal of the United States Congress. Congress.gov is generally updated one day after events occur, and so legislative activity shown here may be one day behind. Data via the congress project.
