I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8639 

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 

OCTOBER 20, 2020 

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

LEE of California, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Mr. 

KHANNA, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. POCAN, Mr. TRONE, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Ms. NORTON, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. WELCH, Ms. 

MOORE, Mr. MORELLE, Ms. MATSUI, Ms. WILD, Ms. HAALAND, Mrs. 

BEATTY, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. 

RASKIN, Mr. AGUILAR, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY, and Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD) 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 

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. 


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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 2020’’. 

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 

22 disabilities is a form of discrimination’’ prohibited by 

23 the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 

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


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1 (3) Regulations promulgated by the Attorney 

2 General in 1991 affirm that title II of the Ameri3 cans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12131 

4 et seq.) requires public entities to ‘‘administer serv5 ices, programs, and activities in the most integrated 

6 setting appropriate to the needs of qualified individ7 uals with disabilities’’ (28 C.F.R. 35.130(d)). The 

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

9 one that ‘‘enables individuals with disabilities to 

10 interact with nondisabled persons to the fullest ex11 tent possible’’ (28 C.F.R. pt. 35, App. B). 

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

13 an intellectual or developmental disability are more 

14 likely to be incarcerated and to be subject to exces15 sive use of force by law enforcement officers: 

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

17 caused by law enforcement officers is a person 

18 with mental illness. 

19 (B) Persons with a mental illness or an in20 tellectual or developmental disability are often 

21 charged with minor, nonviolent offenses. For 

22 many of these persons, arrest and incarceration 

23 could have been avoided if they had access to 

24 intensive community-based services and stable 

25 housing. 


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

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

3 people with mental illness or an intellectual or devel4 opmental disability could be avoided by having in 

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

6 enforcement result in dispatch of mental health pro7 fessionals, peer support workers, or others rather 

8 than law enforcement officers. 

9 (6) Many people who are incarcerated would be 

10 better served in community services. If there were 

11 sufficient community services, and persons with 

12 mental illness or an intellectual or developmental 

13 disability were connected to those services rather 

14 than being arrested, thousands of people with men15 tal illness or an intellectual or developmental dis16 ability would avoid needless admissions to hospitals 

17 or jails. Further, jails and hospitals would experi18 ence less crowding. 

19 SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS TO 

20 ACT AS FIRST RESPONDERS. 

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

22 Human Services (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Sec23 retary’’), acting through the Assistant Secretary for Men24 tal Health and Substance Use and in consultation with 

25 the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights DiviVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:35 Nov 06, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8639.IH H8639

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1 sion of the Department of Justice (in this section referred 

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

3 grants to States and political subdivisions of States— 

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

5 health professionals to respond in lieu of law en6 forcement officers in emergencies in which— 

7 (A) an individual calling 911 or another 

8 emergency hotline states that a person— 

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

10 (ii) may have a mental illness or an 

11 intellectual or developmental disability; 

12 (B) a law enforcement officer or other first 

13 responder identifies a person as having (or pos14 sibly having) a mental illness or an intellectual 

15 or developmental disability; or 

16 (C) a law enforcement officer or other first 

17 responder identifies a person as being (or pos18 sibly being) under the influence of a legal or il19 legal substance; 

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

21 professionals pursuant to paragraph (1) training in 

22 the principles of de-escalation and anti-racism; 

23 (3) to ensure that such mental health profes24 sionals link persons described in subparagraph (A), 


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1 (B), or (C) of paragraph (1) with community-based 

2 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). 

6 (b) DELEGATION.—The Secretary shall delegate re7 sponsibility for carrying out the Secretary’s responsibil8 ities under this section and section 4 to the Director of 

9 the Center for Mental Health Services of the Substance 

10 Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 

11 (c) ADDITIONAL AWARDS.—The Secretary shall 

12 make an additional award of funds under this section each 

13 fiscal year to grantees that demonstrate that their pro14 grams under this section resulted in— 

15 (1) a notable reduction in the incarceration and 

16 death of persons with mental illness or an intellec17 tual or developmental disability; or 

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

19 police and a notable increase in referrals of persons 

20 with a mental illness or intellectual disability to com21 munity-based, voluntary support services (other than 

22 institutionalization carceral support services). 

23 (d) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec24 tion, the Secretary shall give priority to States and polit25 ical subdivisions of States that— 


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1 (1) have high rates of arrests and incarceration 

2 of persons with a mental illness or an intellectual or 

3 developmental disability; or 

4 (2) commit to increasing resources for mental 

5 health and community-based support services or so6 lutions for such persons. 

7 (e) REPORTING.— 

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

9 under this section shall submit to the Secretary— 

10 (A) a quarterly report on— 

11 (i) the number and percentage of 

12 emergencies where mental health profes13 sionals were dispatched in lieu of law en14 forcement officers pursuant to assistance 

15 under this section; 

16 (ii) such other matters as the Sec17 retary may require for determining wheth18 er the recipient should receive an addi19 tional award under subsection (c); and 

20 (iii) any increase or decrease, com21 pared to any previous quarter, in incarcer22 ation or institutionalization as a result of 

23 dispatching mental health professionals 

24 pursuant to assistance under this section, 

25 disaggregated to include data specific to 


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1 persons with intellectual and developmental 

2 disabilities and mental illnesses where 

3 available, so as— 

4 (I) to provide a critical baseline 

5 analysis; and 

6 (II) to ensure that mental health 

7 practitioners are not simply funneling 

8 individuals into other institutionalized 

9 settings; and 

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

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

12 after awarding the first grant under this section, 

13 and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit 

14 to the Congress a report on the grant program 

15 under this section. 

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

17 based on reporting under subsection (e) or other informa18 tion, that activities funded through a grant under this sec19 tion are leading to a significant increase in incarceration 

20 or institutionalization— 

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

22 (2) the grantee shall repay to the Federal Gov23 ernment any amounts that the grantee— 

24 (A) received through the grant; and 

25 (B) has not obligated or expended. 


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

2 authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be nec3 essary for fiscal year 2021 and each subsequent fiscal 

4 year. 

5 SEC. 4. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR POLITICAL SUBDIVI6 SIONS OF A STATE. 

7 The Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting 

8 through the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and 

9 Substance Use and in consultation with the Assistant At10 torney General for the Civil Rights Division of the Depart11 ment of Justice, shall provide technical assistance to 

12 grantees under section 3 (or other Federal law), other po13 litical subdivisions of States, and States to hire, employ, 

14 train, and dispatch mental health professionals to respond 

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

16 3. 

17 SEC. 5. STUDY. 

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

19 Human Services and the Assistant Attorney General for 

20 the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice 

21 shall conduct a study of the effectiveness of programs and 

22 activities under sections 3 and 4. 

23 (b) QUALITATIVE AND LONGITUDINAL EXAMINA24 TION.—The study under subsection (a) shall include a 

25 qualitative and longitudinal study of— 


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1 (1) the number of persons diverted from ar2 rests; and 

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

4 persons, including reduced recidivism, reduced 

5 incidences of use of force, and reduced utilization of 

6 resources. 

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

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

9 Health and Human Services and the Assistant Attorney 

10 General for the Civil Rights Division of the Department 

11 of Justice shall— 

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

13 (2) submit a report to the Congress on the re14 sults of such study; and 

15 (3) publish such report. 

Æ 


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