# 119-hr-6994: Mental Health TALK SAFE Act of 2026

119-hr-6994, Mental Health TALK SAFE Act of 2026, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Dunn, Neal P. [R-FL-2] (R-FL); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-09-30).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-6994
- As of: 2026-09-30
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-6994
- Congress: 119
- Title: Mental Health TALK SAFE Act of 2026
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-01-09
- Sponsor: Rep. Dunn, Neal P. [R-FL-2] (R-FL)
- Cosponsors: 3
- Policy area: Health
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-09-30

## Summary

**Expands telehealth prescribing for approved mental-health controlled substances.** This bill would create a federal framework that treats telehealth evaluations as valid for prescribing specified Schedule II non‑narcotics and Schedule III–V mental health medications and would enable cross‑state psychiatry practice under defined conditions. - Patients and families would gain clearer access to psychiatric medication and remote psychiatry when delivered by qualified telehealth practitioners, reducing the need to travel for some prescriptions. - Psychiatrists and telehealth clinicians would be able to provide covered psychiatry services across state lines if the secondary state’s licensure is substantially similar and they carry professional liability insurance equivalent to the primary state. - Telehealth entities would face strict governance and operating rules. The bill sets staffing and ownership tests, requires chief compliance and clinical officers, ongoing accreditation with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, monitoring, limits on patient charges, and a pharmacist validation process with civil penalties up to $25,000 per violation.

## Cosponsors (3)

- Rep. Gottheimer, Josh [D-NJ-5] (D-NJ), 2026-09-28T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Bacon, Don [R-NE-2] (R-NE), 2026-01-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Stevens, Haley M. [D-MI-11] (D-MI), 2026-09-16T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Easier cross-state psychiatry practice and registrations: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would let DEA registrants avoid extra State registrations when they prescribe or dispense via telemedicine or after a telehealth evaluation. It would allow telehealth practitioners who only dispense by telemedicine to use their telehealth employer's address as their business ad…
- Federal override of conflicting State rules: mixed, high. If enacted, this bill would state that its rules override any State law that would prohibit or limit activities the bill allows. Where a State rule conflicts, the federal law in this bill would control.
- Telehealth prescribing and pharmacist limits: mixed, medium. If enacted, the bill would let telehealth practitioners who have done at least one telehealth evaluation prescribe certain FDA-approved mental-health controlled substances (schedule II non-narcotics, III, IV, or V) and allow some opioid-use-disorder medicines after one telehealth evaluation. A phar…
- New rules for telehealth companies and providers: mixed, medium. If enacted, this bill would set strict operational and staffing rules for most telehealth companies. Companies would need full-time compliance and medical officers and active ACCME accreditation. At least 25% of patient-care time would have to be for mental health and specified shares of providers…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025
- 119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-hr-4393: DIGNIDAD (Dignity) Act of 2025
- 119-hr-9211: Jewish American Security Act
- 119-hr-6766: Essential Caregivers Act of 2025
- 119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-6994 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/6994)

## Related
- [119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4669)
- [119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3151)
- [119-hr-4393: DIGNIDAD (Dignity) Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4393)
- [119-hr-9211: Jewish American Security Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9211)
- [119-hr-6766: Essential Caregivers Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-6766)
- [119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage A…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-842)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-6994 (as of 2026-09-30).