This bill directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, working with the Attorney General, to convene a panel to issue recommendations on training, staffing, protocols, and data standards for 9-1-1 dispatchers. The panel must include psychiatrists, EMS personnel, law enforcement and 9-1-1 dispatchers, 9-8-8 representatives, members of underserved communities, Tribal representatives, and people with experience treating serious mental illness or PTSD. Members serve staggered five-year terms. The panel must consider connecting callers in behavioral health crises to crisis care instead of law enforcement, integrating or transferring calls between 9-1-1 and the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, processes to identify and assess callers using standardized tools (for example, LOCUS, CALOCUS, ASAM Criteria), and training and staffing measures that include cultural competency, implicit bias training, and recruitment of personnel with specialized experience. The panel must coordinate with SAMHSA, update recommendations at least every five years, develop data collection and reporting standards that protect privacy, coordinate with National 911 Program entities, and submit reports to Congress when recommendations and updates are issued. The bill also states that the normal federal advisory committee termination rule will not apply to this panel.
If enacted, HHS would convene a federal panel to study how 9-1-1 and 9-8-8 handle callers in behavioral health crises and to write recommendations. The panel would make recommendations about dispatch training, when to route calls to crisis services instead of law enforcement, how to transfer calls between 9-1-1 and 9-8-8, and what data should be collected about outcomes. The panel must report its findings and updates to Congress.
No publicly available information.
The bill states its purpose is to ensure 9-1-1 dispatchers respond appropriately to people experiencing behavioral health crises based on the incident and caller needs. The panel is intended to produce recommended training, protocols, and data standards to help connect callers to crisis care and align 9-1-1 and 9-8-8 systems.
No publicly available information.