Among other provisions, the bill pushes states to provide early intervention for psychosis,A a treatment program that has been hailed as one of the most promising mental health developments in decades.

Murphy began researching how to improve the mental health system after the Newtown shootings in 2012, which raised awareness about the problem of untreated mental illness. Attorney General to create at least one drug and mental health court pilot program, which aim to help people with mental illness or drug addiction receive treatment, rather than jail time, after committing minor offenses.

The bill recognizes that awe have a crisis in the way we treat serious mental illness and weare doing to do something about it,a said John Snook, executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center, which advocates on behalf of people with serious mental illness. Although eight federal agencies today fund 112 programs that provide mental health care, these agencies rarely coordinate their efforts to make sure patients get the help they need and to avoid duplicating services, Murphy said.

The bill would make structural changes to the way federal agencies provide mental health services.

A new committee would link leaders of key agencies involved in mental health care, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Justice and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA.A new position aA the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use aA would oversee SAMHSA and disseminate the most successful approaches to treating mental illness.A An advisory board, the National Mental Health and Substance Use Policy Laboratory, would also analyze treatments and services to help decide which ones should be expanded.

aWe want the states to tell us what makes a difference, so other states can benefit from their success and learn from their failures,a Murphy said.