II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 515 

To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants 

to States and political subdivisions of States to hire, employ, train, 

and dispatch mental health professionals to respond in lieu of law enforcement officers in emergencies involving one or more persons with 

a mental illness or an intellectual or developmental disability, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 1, 2021 

Ms. WARREN (for herself, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

to award grants to States and political subdivisions of 

States to hire, employ, train, and dispatch mental health 

professionals to respond in lieu of law enforcement officers in emergencies involving one or more persons with 

a mental illness or an intellectual or developmental disability, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mental Health Justice 

3 Act of 2021’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) Needless institutionalization (including in 

7 psychiatric hospitals) of people with disabilities is 

8 generally a violation of the Americans with Disabil9 ities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.), and the 

10 failure to provide sufficient community-based serv11 ices (such as supported housing, assertive commu12 nity treatment, mobile crisis, peer support, and sup13 ported employment) has resulted in needless institu14 tionalization as well as incarceration of persons with 

15 mental illness or an intellectual or developmental 

16 disability. 

17 (2) In the landmark 1999 Supreme Court case 

18 Olmstead v. L.C., the Supreme Court ruled that the 

19 ‘‘unjustified institutional isolation of persons with 

20 disabilities is a form of discrimination’’ prohibited by 

21 the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 

22 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). 

23 (3) Regulations promulgated by the Attorney 

24 General in 1991 affirm that title II of the Ameri25 cans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12131 

26 et seq.) requires public entities to ‘‘administer servVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:51 Mar 31, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S515.IS S515

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1 ices, programs, and activities in the most integrated 

2 setting appropriate to the needs of qualified individ3 uals with disabilities’’ (28 C.F.R. 35.130(d)). The 

4 regulation defines ‘‘the most integrated setting’’ as 

5 one that ‘‘enables individuals with disabilities to 

6 interact with nondisabled persons to the fullest ex7 tent possible’’ (28 C.F.R. pt. 35, App. B). 

8 (4) Yet today, persons with a mental illness or 

9 an intellectual or developmental disability are more 

10 likely to be incarcerated and to be subject to exces11 sive use of force by law enforcement officers: 

12 (A) One out of every 4 of the deaths 

13 caused by law enforcement officers is a person 

14 with mental illness. 

15 (B) Persons with a mental illness or an in16 tellectual or developmental disability are often 

17 charged with minor, nonviolent offenses. For 

18 many of these persons, arrest and incarceration 

19 could have been avoided if they had access to 

20 intensive community-based services and stable 

21 housing. 

22 (5) Many of the police encounters that lead to 

23 the incarceration (and in too many cases, death) of 

24 people with mental illness or an intellectual or devel25 opmental disability could be avoided by having in 


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1 place systems that ensure that calls to 911 or to law 

2 enforcement result in dispatch of mental health pro3 fessionals, peer support workers, or others rather 

4 than law enforcement officers. 

5 (6) Many people who are incarcerated would be 

6 better served in community services. If there were 

7 sufficient community services, and persons with 

8 mental illness or an intellectual or developmental 

9 disability were connected to those services rather 

10 than being arrested, thousands of people with men11 tal illness or an intellectual or developmental dis12 ability would avoid needless admissions to hospitals 

13 or jails. Further, jails and hospitals would experi14 ence less crowding. 

15 SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS TO 

16 ACT AS FIRST RESPONDERS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 

18 Human Services (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Sec19 retary’’), acting through the Assistant Secretary for Men20 tal Health and Substance Use and in consultation with 

21 the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Divi22 sion of the Department of Justice (in this section referred 

23 to as the ‘‘Assistant Attorney General’’), shall award 

24 grants to States and political subdivisions of States— 


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1 (1) to hire, employ, train, and dispatch mental 

2 health professionals to respond in lieu of law en3 forcement officers in emergencies in which— 

4 (A) an individual calling 911, 988, or an5 other emergency hotline states that a person— 

6 (i) is in a mental health crisis; or 

7 (ii) may have a mental illness or an 

8 intellectual or developmental disability; 

9 (B) a law enforcement officer or other first 

10 responder identifies a person as having (or pos11 sibly having) a mental illness or an intellectual 

12 or developmental disability; or 

13 (C) a law enforcement officer or other first 

14 responder identifies a person as being (or pos15 sibly being) under the influence of a legal or il16 legal substance; 

17 (2) to include in the training for mental health 

18 professionals pursuant to paragraph (1) training 

19 in— 

20 (A) the principles of de-escalation and 

21 anti-racism; and 

22 (B) age-appropriate mechanisms for car23 rying out the professionals’ responsibilities; 

24 (3) to ensure that such mental health profes25 sionals link persons described in subparagraph (A), 


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1 (B), or (C) of paragraph (1) with voluntary commu2 nity-based services where appropriate; and 

3 (4) to train the staff of dispatch centers regard4 ing the proper handling of a report of an emergency 

5 described in paragraph (1), including training in the 

6 principles of de-escalation and anti-racism referred 

7 to in paragraph (2)(A). 

8 (b) DELEGATION.—The Secretary shall delegate re9 sponsibility for carrying out the Secretary’s responsibil10 ities under this section and section 4 to the Director of 

11 the Center for Mental Health Services of the Substance 

12 Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 

13 (c) ADDITIONAL AWARDS.—The Secretary shall 

14 make an additional award of funds under this section each 

15 fiscal year to grantees that demonstrate that their pro16 grams under this section resulted in— 

17 (1) a notable reduction in the incarceration and 

18 death of persons with mental illness or an intellec19 tual or developmental disability; or 

20 (2) a notable reduction in the use of force by 

21 police and a notable increase in referrals of persons 

22 with a mental illness or intellectual disability to com23 munity-based, voluntary support services (other than 

24 institutionalization or carceral support services). 


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1 (d) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec2 tion, the Secretary shall give priority to States and polit3 ical subdivisions of States that— 

4 (1) have high rates of arrests and incarceration 

5 of persons with a mental illness or an intellectual or 

6 developmental disability; 

7 (2) commit to increasing resources for mental 

8 health and community-based support services or so9 lutions for such persons; or 

10 (3) include peer support specialists in their cur11 rent first responder model. 

12 (e) REPORTING.— 

13 (1) BY GRANTEES.—A recipient of a grant 

14 under this section shall submit to the Secretary— 

15 (A) a quarterly report on— 

16 (i) the number and percentage of 

17 emergencies where mental health profes18 sionals were dispatched in lieu of law en19 forcement officers pursuant to assistance 

20 under this section; 

21 (ii) such other matters as the Sec22 retary may require for determining wheth23 er the recipient should receive an addi24 tional award under subsection (c); and 


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1 (iii) any increase or decrease, com2 pared to any previous quarter, in incarcer3 ation or institutionalization as a result of 

4 dispatching mental health professionals 

5 pursuant to assistance under this section, 

6 disaggregated to include data specific to 

7 persons with intellectual and developmental 

8 disabilities and mental illnesses where 

9 available, so as— 

10 (I) to provide a critical baseline 

11 analysis; and 

12 (II) to ensure that mental health 

13 practitioners are not simply funneling 

14 individuals into other institutionalized 

15 settings; and 

16 (B) a final report on the use of such grant. 

17 (2) BY SECRETARY.—Not later than 1 year 

18 after awarding the first grant under this section, 

19 and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit 

20 to Congress a report on the grant program under 

21 this section. 

22 (3) DISAGGREGATION OF DATA.—The reporting 

23 pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2) shall be 

24 disaggregated by age, gender, race, and ethnicity, to 

25 the extent the Secretary determines appropriate. 


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1 (f) REVOCATION OF GRANT.—If the Secretary finds, 

2 based on reporting under subsection (e) or other informa3 tion, that activities funded through a grant under this sec4 tion are leading to a significant increase in incarceration 

5 or institutionalization— 

6 (1) the Secretary shall revoke the grant; and 

7 (2) the grantee shall repay to the Federal Gov8 ernment any amounts that the grantee— 

9 (A) received through the grant; and 

10 (B) has not obligated or expended. 

11 SEC. 4. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR POLITICAL SUBDIVI12 SIONS OF A STATE. 

13 The Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting 

14 through the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and 

15 Substance Use and in consultation with the Assistant At16 torney General for the Civil Rights Division of the Depart17 ment of Justice, shall provide technical assistance to 

18 grantees under section 3 (or other Federal law), other po19 litical subdivisions of States, and States to hire, employ, 

20 train, and dispatch mental health professionals to respond 

21 in lieu of law enforcement officers, as described in section 

22 3. 

23 SEC. 5. STUDY. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 

25 Human Services and the Assistant Attorney General for 


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1 the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice 

2 shall conduct a study of the effectiveness of programs and 

3 activities under sections 3 and 4. 

4 (b) QUALITATIVE AND LONGITUDINAL EXAMINA5 TION.—The study under subsection (a) shall include a 

6 qualitative and longitudinal study of— 

7 (1) the number of persons diverted from ar8 rests; and 

9 (2) short- and long-term outcomes for those 

10 persons, including reduced recidivism, reduced 

11 incidences of use of force, and reduced utilization of 

12 resources. 

13 (c) COMPLETION; REPORT.—Not later than 3 years 

14 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

15 Health and Human Services and the Assistant Attorney 

16 General for the Civil Rights Division of the Department 

17 of Justice shall— 

18 (1) complete the study under subsection (a); 

19 (2) submit a report to Congress on the results 

20 of such study; and 

21 (3) publish such report. 


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1 SEC. 6. FUNDING. 

2 To carry out this legislation, there are authorized to 

3 be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for fiscal 

4 year 2021 and each subsequent fiscal year. 

Æ 


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