I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1368 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 25, 2021 

Ms. PORTER (for herself, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Ms. 

MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. TRONE, Mrs. BEATTY, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. 

WELCH, Mr. CARSON, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. KHANNA, 

Mr. POCAN, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. RYAN, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. 

LEVIN of California, Mr. LIEU, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. JONES, Ms. WILD, Mr. DESAULNIER, 

Ms. MENG, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. CHU, Mr. RUSH, Ms. 

DEAN, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Ms. JACOBS of California, Ms. 

OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. TORRES

of New York, Mr. DEUTCH, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. OMAR, 

Ms. BUSH, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. 

EVANS, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. NEGUSE, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. SPEIER, 

Mrs. HAYES, Mrs. DEMINGS, and Mr. LAWSON of Florida) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period 

to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 

concerned 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

to award grants to States and political subdivisions of 


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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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Needless institutionalization (including in 

9 psychiatric hospitals) of people with disabilities is 

10 generally a violation of the Americans with Disabil11 ities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.), and the 

12 failure to provide sufficient community-based serv13 ices (such as supported housing, assertive commu14 nity treatment, mobile crisis, peer support, and sup15 ported employment) has resulted in needless institu16 tionalization as well as incarceration of persons with 

17 mental illness or an intellectual or developmental 

18 disability. 

19 (2) In the landmark 1999 Supreme Court case 

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

21 ‘‘unjustified institutional isolation of persons with 


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1 disabilities is a form of discrimination’’ prohibited by 

2 the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 

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

4 (3) Regulations promulgated by the Attorney 

5 General in 1991 affirm that title II of the Ameri6 cans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12131 

7 et seq.) requires public entities to ‘‘administer serv8 ices, programs, and activities in the most integrated 

9 setting appropriate to the needs of qualified individ10 uals with disabilities’’ (28 C.F.R. 35.130(d)). The 

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

12 one that ‘‘enables individuals with disabilities to 

13 interact with nondisabled persons to the fullest ex14 tent possible’’ (28 C.F.R. pt. 35, App. B). 

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

16 an intellectual or developmental disability are more 

17 likely to be incarcerated and to be subject to exces18 sive use of force by law enforcement officers: 

19 (A) One out of every four of the deaths 

20 caused by law enforcement officers is a person 

21 with mental illness. 

22 (B) Persons with a mental illness or an in23 tellectual or developmental disability are often 

24 charged with minor, nonviolent offenses. For 

25 many of these persons, arrest and incarceration 


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1 could have been avoided if they had access to 

2 intensive community-based services and stable 

3 housing. 

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

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

6 people with mental illness or an intellectual or devel7 opmental disability could be avoided by having in 

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

9 enforcement result in dispatch of mental health pro10 fessionals, peer support workers, or others rather 

11 than law enforcement officers. 

12 (6) Many people who are incarcerated would be 

13 better served in community services. If there were 

14 sufficient community services, and persons with 

15 mental illness or an intellectual or developmental 

16 disability were connected to those services rather 

17 than being arrested, thousands of people with men18 tal illness or an intellectual or developmental dis19 ability would avoid needless admissions to hospitals 

20 or jails. Further, jails and hospitals would experi21 ence less crowding. 

22 SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS TO 

23 ACT AS FIRST RESPONDERS. 

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

25 Human Services (in this section referred to as the ‘‘SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Mar 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1368.IH H1368

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1 retary’’), acting through the Assistant Secretary for Men2 tal Health and Substance Use and in consultation with 

3 the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Divi4 sion of the Department of Justice (in this section referred 

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

6 grants to States and political subdivisions of States— 

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

8 health professionals to respond in lieu of law en9 forcement officers in emergencies in which— 

10 (A) an individual calling 911, 988, or an11 other emergency hotline states that a person— 

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

13 (ii) may have a mental illness or an 

14 intellectual or developmental disability; 

15 (B) a law enforcement officer or other first 

16 responder identifies a person as having (or pos17 sibly having) a mental illness or an intellectual 

18 or developmental disability; or 

19 (C) a law enforcement officer or other first 

20 responder identifies a person as being (or pos21 sibly being) under the influence of a legal or il22 legal substance; 

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

24 professionals pursuant to paragraph (1) training 

25 in— 


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1 (A) the principles of deescalation and 

2 antiracism; and 

3 (B) age-appropriate techniques; 

4 (3) to ensure that such mental health profes5 sionals link persons described in subparagraph (A), 

6 (B), or (C) of paragraph (1) with voluntary commu7 nity-based services where appropriate; and 

8 (4) to train the staff of dispatch centers regard9 ing the proper handling of a report of an emergency 

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

11 principles of deescalation and antiracism referred to 

12 in paragraph (2)(A). 

13 (b) DELEGATION.—The Secretary shall delegate re14 sponsibility for carrying out the Secretary’s responsibil15 ities under this section and section 4 to the Director of 

16 the Center for Mental Health Services of the Substance 

17 Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 

18 (c) ADDITIONAL AWARDS.—The Secretary shall 

19 make an additional award of funds under this section each 

20 fiscal year to grantees that demonstrate that their pro21 grams under this section resulted in— 

22 (1) a notable reduction in the incarceration and 

23 death of persons with mental illness or an intellec24 tual or developmental disability; or 


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

2 police and a notable increase in referrals of persons 

3 with a mental illness or intellectual disability to com4 munity-based, voluntary support services (other than 

5 institutionalization or carceral support services). 

6 (d) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec7 tion, the Secretary shall give priority to States and polit8 ical subdivisions of States that— 

9 (1) have high rates of arrests and incarceration 

10 of persons with a mental illness or an intellectual or 

11 developmental disability; 

12 (2) commit to increasing resources for mental 

13 health and community-based support services or so14 lutions for such persons; or 

15 (3) include peer support specialists in their cur16 rent first responder model. 

17 (e) REPORTING.— 

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

19 under this section shall submit to the Secretary— 

20 (A) a quarterly report on— 

21 (i) the number and percentage of 

22 emergencies where mental health profes23 sionals were dispatched in lieu of law en24 forcement officers pursuant to assistance 

25 under this section; 


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1 (ii) such other matters as the Sec2 retary may require for determining wheth3 er the recipient should receive an addi4 tional award under subsection (c); and 

5 (iii) any increase or decrease, com6 pared to any previous quarter, in incarcer7 ation or institutionalization as a result of 

8 dispatching mental health professionals 

9 pursuant to assistance under this section, 

10 disaggregated to include data specific to 

11 persons with intellectual and developmental 

12 disabilities and mental illnesses where 

13 available, so as— 

14 (I) to provide a critical baseline 

15 analysis; and 

16 (II) to ensure that mental health 

17 practitioners are not simply funneling 

18 individuals into other institutionalized 

19 settings; and 

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

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

22 after awarding the first grant under this section, 

23 and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit 

24 to the Congress a report on the grant program 

25 under this section. 


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1 (3) DISAGGREGATION OF DATA.—The reporting 

2 pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2) shall, to the ex3 tent determined by the Secretary to be applicable, be 

4 disaggregated by age, gender, race, and ethnicity. 

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

6 based on reporting under subsection (e) or other informa7 tion, that activities funded through a grant under this sec8 tion are leading to a significant increase in incarceration 

9 or institutionalization— 

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

11 (2) the grantee shall repay to the Federal Gov12 ernment any amounts that the grantee— 

13 (A) received through the grant; and 

14 (B) has not obligated or expended. 

15 (g) FUNDING.—To carry out this section, there are 

16 authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be nec17 essary for fiscal year 2022 and each subsequent fiscal 

18 year. 

19 SEC. 4. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR POLITICAL SUBDIVI20 SIONS OF A STATE. 

21 The Secretary of Health and Human Service, acting 

22 through the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and 

23 Substance Use and in consultation with the Assistant At24 torney General for the Civil Rights Division of the Depart25 ment of Justice, shall provide technical assistance to 


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1 grantees under section 3 (or other Federal law), other po2 litical subdivisions of States, and States to hire, employ, 

3 train, and dispatch mental health professionals to respond 

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

5 3. 

6 SEC. 5. STUDY. 

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

8 Human Services and the Assistant Attorney General for 

9 the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice 

10 shall conduct a study of the effectiveness of programs and 

11 activities under sections 3 and 4. 

12 (b) QUALITATIVE AND LONGITUDINAL EXAMINA13 TION.—The study under subsection (a) shall include a 

14 qualitative and longitudinal study of— 

15 (1) the number of persons diverted from ar16 rests; and 

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

18 persons, including reduced recidivism, reduced 

19 incidences of use of force, and reduced utilization of 

20 resources. 

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

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

23 Health and Human Services and the Assistant Attorney 

24 General for the Civil Rights Division of the Department 

25 of Justice shall— 


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

2 (2) submit a report to the Congress on the re3 sults of such study; and 

4 (3) publish such report. 

Æ 


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