September 1, 2026
Ms. Pettersen (for herself, Mr. Lawler, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. Moulton, Ms. Dean of Pennsylvania, Ms. Stansbury, Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Norton, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Ms. Tlaib, and Ms. Ross) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
To amend title 49, United States Code, to require recipients of assistance under chapter 53 of such title to display information regarding the suicide prevention hotline on public transportation owned or operated by the recipient.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Public Transit Mental Health Awareness Act
.
Sec. 2. Public display of suicide prevention hotline
Section 5323 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
(w) Public display of suicide prevention hotline
(1) In general
A recipient (including a subrecipient) of assistance under this chapter shall display on public transportation owned or operated by the recipient, in a location visible to public transportation passengers, information regarding the suicide prevention hotline maintained pursuant to section 520E–3 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb–36c), including that such hotline is free, confidential, and available 24 hours a day.
(2) Satisfaction of requirement
A recipient (or subrecipient) may satisfy the requirement under paragraph (1) by displaying the information referred to in such paragraph—
(A)
on all rolling stock vehicles of such recipient; or
(B)
in all transit facilities of such recipient.
(3) Reasonable compliance
If any public display of information required under paragraph (1) is temporarily damaged, removed, vandalized, or otherwise unavailable, the recipient (or subrecipient) responsible shall not be considered to be out of compliance with this subsection provided that the recipient makes a reasonable effort to replace or restore such display.
(4) Revenue-generating advertising space
The display of information required under this subsection shall not interfere with revenue-generating advertising space.
(5) Effective date
The requirement under paragraph (1) shall take effect 1 year after the date of enactment of this subsection.