911 Community Crisis Responders Act of 2023

Subjects: Health

Summary:  <p><b>911 Community Crisis Responders Act of 2023</b></p> <p>This bill authorizes grants to dispatch unarmed, specialized health care or social service providers to respond to nonviolent emergency calls instead of law enforcement officers.</p> <p>The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration may award grants to states, tribal governments (and consortia of tribal governments), and localities. Recipients may use the grants for hiring and training necessary staff, working with 9-1-1 dispatchers and 9-8-8 call centers to appropriately dispatch services in response to nonviolent emergency calls, and connecting individuals with local health and social service providers. (The 9-8-8 system provides callers with mental health or suicide crisis support and resources.)</p>

<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1423 Introduced in House (IH)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1423

To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through 
 the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, to award 
  grants to States, territories, political subdivisions of States and 
territories, Tribal governments, and consortia of Tribal governments to 
  establish an unarmed mobile crisis response program, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 7, 2023

Mr. Smith of Washington (for himself, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Carson, Ms. 
 Norton, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Trone, Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick, and Ms. 
    Tlaib) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through 
 the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, to award 
  grants to States, territories, political subdivisions of States and 
territories, Tribal governments, and consortia of Tribal governments to 
  establish an unarmed mobile crisis response program, and for other 
                               purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``911 Community Crisis Responders Act 
of 2023''.

SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR UNARMED MOBILE CRISIS RESPONSE PROGRAMS.

    Part D of title V of the Public Health Service Act is amended by 
inserting after section 552 (42 U.S.C. 290ee-7) the following new 
section:

``SEC. 553. GRANTS FOR UNARMED MOBILE CRISIS RESPONSE PROGRAMS.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary, acting through the Assistant 
Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, may award grants to 
States, territories, political subdivisions of States and territories 
(such as counties), Tribal Governments, and consortia of Tribal 
Governments to establish an unarmed mobile crisis response program 
under which nonviolent emergency calls are referred to unarmed 
professional service providers for response, instead of to a law 
enforcement agency.
    ``(b) Program Requirements.--An unarmed mobile crisis response 
program funded under this section shall--
            ``(1) dispatch unarmed professional service providers in 
        groups of two or more in a timely manner;
            ``(2) be capable of providing screening, assessment, de-
        escalation, trauma-informed culturally competent services, 
        engagement and referrals to community-based treatment 
        providers, and transportation to immediately necessary 
        treatment;
            ``(3) when necessary, coordinate with health, housing, or 
        social services;
            ``(4) not be subject to oversight of State, Tribal, or 
        local law enforcement agencies; and
            ``(5) clearly outline the scope of calls that must or may 
        be referred to the unarmed mobile crisis response program as 
        first responders.
    ``(c) Uses of Funds.--A grant under this section may be used for--
            ``(1) hiring unarmed professional service providers and 
        public safety telecommunicators;
            ``(2) training unarmed professional service providers to 
        respond to emergency calls by identifying, understanding, and 
        responding to signs of mental illnesses, physical disabilities, 
        developmental or intellectual disabilities, and substance use 
        disorders, including by means of--
                    ``(A) de-escalation;
                    ``(B) crisis intervention; and
                    ``(C) connecting individuals to local service 
                providers, health care providers, housing providers, 
                community-based organizations, and the full range of 
                other available providers and resources, with a focus 
                on culturally competent service providers;
            ``(3) updating 911 response systems to enable triage 
        between nonviolent 911 calls and those that require a response 
        from law enforcement;
            ``(4) developing curriculum to train, and conducting 
        training of, public safety telecommunicators on de-escalation 
        and call processing;
            ``(5) coordinating with 9-8-8 call centers to establish a 
        process for dispatching an unarmed mobile crisis response 
        program;
            ``(6) building the capacity--
                    ``(A) to coordinate with local trauma-informed 
                social service providers, health care providers, and 
                community-based organizations; and
                    ``(B) to provide multilingual and culturally 
                competent services; and
            ``(7) collecting data for reports to the Secretary.
    ``(d) Application.--An applicant seeking a grant under this section 
shall submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in such 
manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may reasonably 
require, including the applicant's plan to train 911 public safety 
telecommunicators to determine when a call requires a response from an 
unarmed mobile crisis response program.
    ``(e) Reports to Secretary.--A recipient of a grant under this 
section shall submit to the Secretary, on a biannual basis, a report on 
the following:
            ``(1) The number of calls placed to 911 that were diverted 
        to the grantee's unarmed mobile crisis response program.
            ``(2) Demographic information on the individuals served by 
        the grantee's unarmed mobile crisis response program, 
        disaggregated by race, ethnicity, age, sex, sexual orientation, 
        gender identity, location, mental illness, physical 
        disabilities, developmental or intellectual disabilities, 
        substance use disorders, and housing status.
            ``(3) The effects of the grantee's unarmed mobile crisis 
        response program on emergency room visits, hospitalizations, 
        use of ambulances, and involvement of law enforcement in mental 
        health or substance use disorder crises.
            ``(4) An assessment of the types of events and crises to 
        which the grantee's unarmed mobile crisis response program 
        responded and the services provided, including--
                    ``(A) the number of individuals successfully 
                transferred to an alternative destination;
                    ``(B) the time between notification by a public 
                safety telecommunicator and arrival at the scene by a 
                provider; and
                    ``(C) the time spent by providers at scene.
            ``(5) A cost analysis of the grantee's unarmed mobile 
        crisis response program.
    ``(f) Reports to Congress.--The Secretary shall submit to the 
Congress, on a biannual basis, a report on the program under this 
section, including a summary of the reports submitted by grantees 
pursuant to subsection (e).
    ``(g) Grant Amount.--The Secretary may make grants to applicants 
that do not meet all of the criteria under subsection (b)(1), but 
applicants that do not meet all such criteria may not receive the full 
grant amount.
    ``(h) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) The term `alternative destination'--
                    ``(A) means any service- or care-providing site 
                other than a hospital emergency department or jail; and
                    ``(B) includes an outpatient clinic, primary care 
                provider's office, crisis apartment, crisis home, 
                respite home, crisis stabilization center, urgent care 
                facility, and community care center.
            ``(2) The term `nonviolent emergency call' means a 911 call 
        that--
                    ``(A) relates to mental health, homelessness, 
                addiction problems, social services, truancy, 
                intellectual and developmental disabilities, or public 
                intoxication; and
                    ``(B) does not involve obvious violent behavior.
            ``(3) The term `unarmed professional service provider' 
        means a professional (which may include a nurse, social worker, 
        emergency medical technician, counselor, community health 
        worker, trauma-informed personnel, social service provider, 
        substance use disorder professional, or peer support 
        specialist) who--
                    ``(A) is trained to deal with mental health or 
                substance abuse crises or intellectual and 
                developmental disabilities; and
                    ``(B) does not carry a firearm.
    ``(i) Nondiscrimination.--No person in the United States shall, on 
the basis of actual or perceived race, color, religion, national 
origin, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), or 
disability, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits 
of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity 
funded, in whole or in part, with funds made available under this 
section.''.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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