I 
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 terri-
tories, Tribal governments, and consortia of Tribal governments to estab-
lish 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, terri-
tories, 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 Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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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 RE-
SPONSE PROGRAMS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 
the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance 
Use, may award grants to States, territories, political sub-
divisions of States and territories (such as counties), Trib-
al Governments, and consortia of Tribal Governments to 
establish an unarmed mobile crisis response program 
under which nonviolent emergency calls are referred to un-
armed professional service providers for response, instead 
of to a law enforcement agency. 
‘‘(b) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.—An unarmed mo-
bile crisis response program funded under this section 
shall— 
‘‘(1) dispatch unarmed professional service pro-
viders in groups of two or more in a timely manner; 
‘‘(2) be capable of providing screening, assess-
ment, de-escalation, trauma-informed culturally com-
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petent services, engagement and referrals to commu-
nity-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, Trib-
al, or local law enforcement agencies; and 
‘‘(5) clearly outline the scope of calls that must 
or may be referred to the unarmed mobile crisis re-
sponse program as first responders. 
‘‘(c) USES OF FUNDS.—A grant under this section 
may be used for— 
‘‘(1) hiring unarmed professional service pro-
viders and public safety telecommunicators; 
‘‘(2) training unarmed professional service pro-
viders to respond to emergency calls by identifying, 
understanding, and responding to signs of mental ill-
nesses, physical disabilities, developmental or intel-
lectual disabilities, and substance use disorders, in-
cluding by means of— 
‘‘(A) de-escalation; 
‘‘(B) crisis intervention; and 
‘‘(C) connecting individuals to local service 
providers, health care providers, housing pro-
viders, community-based organizations, and the 
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full range of other available providers and re-
sources, 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 con-
ducting training of, public safety telecommunicators 
on de-escalation and call processing; 
‘‘(5) coordinating with 9–8–8 call centers to es-
tablish a process for dispatching an unarmed mobile 
crisis response program; 
‘‘(6) building the capacity— 
‘‘(A) to coordinate with local trauma-in-
formed social service providers, health care pro-
viders, and community-based organizations; and 
‘‘(B) to provide multilingual and culturally 
competent services; and 
‘‘(7) collecting data for reports to the Sec-
retary. 
‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—An applicant seeking a grant 
under this section shall submit to the Secretary an appli-
cation at such time, in such manner, and containing such 
information as the Secretary may reasonably require, in-
cluding the applicant’s plan to train 911 public safety tele-
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communicators to determine when a call requires a re-
sponse 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 individ-
uals 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 mo-
bile crisis response program on emergency room vis-
its, hospitalizations, use of ambulances, and involve-
ment of law enforcement in mental health or sub-
stance 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 pro-
vided, including— 
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