S. 779 — EARLY Minds Act

This section amends the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant program (42 U.S.C. 300x et seq.), which provides formula grants to states for community mental health services for adults with serious mental illness and children with serious emotional disturbance, by (1) requiring states to include in their annual plans a description of any evidence-based prevention and early intervention strategies and programs to prevent, delay, or reduce the severity and onset of mental illness and behavioral problems, including for children and adolescents irrespective of serious mental illness or serious emotional disturbance; (2) authorizing such states to expend up to 5% of their annual block grant allotment on those strategies and programs; and (3) requiring the Secretary, not later than one year after enactment of the EARLY Minds Act and biennially thereafter, to report to Congress on states' utilization, including participating states, activities, demographics of populations served (including age), outcomes such as reduced delays in mental health care access and reduced severity of illness onset, and other relevant information.