Mental Health Parity Enforcement and Funding Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9551 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 9551

To provide for civil monetary penalties for violations of mental health
parity requirements.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

June 30, 2026

Mr. Kean introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To provide for civil monetary penalties for violations of mental health
parity requirements.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Mental Health Parity Enforcement and
Funding Act''.

SEC. 2. CIVIL MONETARY PENALTIES FOR PARITY VIOLATIONS.

(a) Civil Monetary Penalties Relating to Parity in Mental Health
and Substance Use Disorders.--Section 502(c)(10) of the Employee
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1132(c)(10)(A)) is
amended--
(1) in the heading, by striking ``use of genetic
information'' and inserting ``use of genetic information and
parity in mental health and substance use disorder benefits'';
and
(2) in subparagraph (A)--
(A) by striking ``any plan sponsor of a group
health plan'' and inserting ``any plan sponsor, service
provider, or plan administrator of a group health
plan''; and
(B) by striking ``for any failure'' and all that
follows through ``in connection with the plan.'' and
inserting ``for any failure by such sponsor, service
provider, administrator, or issuer, in connection with
the plan--
``(i) to meet the requirements of
subsection (a)(1)(F), (b)(3), (c), or (d) of
section 702 or section 701 or 702(b)(1) with
respect to genetic information; or
``(ii) to meet the requirements of
subsection (a) of section 712 with respect to
parity in mental health and substance use
disorder benefits.''.
(b) Exception to the General Prohibition on Enforcement.--Section
502 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 1132) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)(6), by striking ``or (9)'' and
inserting ``(9), or (10)''; and
(2) in subsection (b)(3)--
(A) by striking ``subsections (c)(9) and (a)(6)''
and inserting ``subsections (c)(9), (c)(10), and
(a)(6)''; and
(B) by striking ``under subsection (c)(9))'' and
inserting ``under subsections (c)(9) and (c)(10)), and
except with respect to enforcement by the Secretary of
section 712''.
(c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall
apply with respect to group health plans, or any health insurance
issuer offering health insurance coverage in connection with such plan,
for plan years beginning after the date that is 1 year after the date
of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. APPROPRIATIONS.

There are appropriated to the Employee Benefits Security
Administration to carry out the amendments made to the Employee
Retirement Income Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.) by the Paul
Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity
Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-343) and this Act, $30,000,000 for each of
fiscal years 2027 through 2031.
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