1. Short title This Act may be cited as the National Suicide Hotline Improvement Act of 2017 . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) According to the National Center for Health Statistics, suicide rates in the United States have surged to their highest levels in nearly 30 years. (2) The overall suicide rate rose by 24 percent from 1999 to 2014. (3) The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1–800–273–TALK [8255]), created under the leadership of the Center for Mental Health Services of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (commonly known as SAMHSA ), is a network of 161 crisis centers that provide a toll-free hotline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to anyone experiencing a mental health or suicidal emergency or crisis. (4) In 1967, the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice recommended the creation of a single telephone number that could be used nationwide for reporting emergencies. (5) In 1968, the Federal Communications Commission agreed upon the number 9–1–1, one of eight N11 dialing codes, as a simple, easy-to-remember telephone number to be the dedicated number for reporting emergencies, and 9–1–1 became the national emergency number for individuals in the United States to access police, fire, and ambulance services. (6) Based on the success of the 9–1–1 nationwide emergency number, a study by the Federal Communications Commission regarding the use of a simple, easy-to-remember dedicated 3-digit dialing code for a suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline system would be beneficial in the prevention of suicide nationwide. 3. Definitions In this Act— (1) the term Assistant Secretary means the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use; (2) the term Commission means the Federal Communications Commission; (3) the term covered dialing code means a simple, easy-to-remember, 3-digit dialing code