wa-law.org > bill > 2023-24 > HB 1661 > Original Bill

HB 1661 - Mobile crisis intervention

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Section 1

  1. The legislature finds that trauma-informed de-escalation and harm reduction techniques are effective in ensuring the peaceful resolution of emergency crisis situations involving mental illness, homelessness, and addiction.

  2. The legislature further finds that mobile mental health crisis intervention programs that operate independently of law enforcement agencies may be an effective alternative or supplement to police response for nonviolent crises.

  3. The legislature intends to appropriate sufficient funding to the state military department's emergency management division to establish a program to support mental health first response efforts in local communities by awarding grants for a pilot project to establish two emergency crisis assistance teams.

Section 2

  1. Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the state military department's emergency management division shall establish the emergency crisis assistance team pilot project. The purpose of the project is to create two emergency crisis assistance teams that support community-based public safety and provide mobile mental health crisis intervention for crises involving mental illness, homelessness, and addiction.

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    1. The state military department shall establish a competitive grant program to award funding for two emergency crisis assistance teams by September 1, 2023.

    2. The state military department shall award two grants, one to an eligible applicant in a city west of the crest of the Cascade mountains and one to an eligible applicant in a city east of the crest of the Cascade mountains.

  3. Mental health care service providers are eligible to compete for grant funding.

  4. Grant recipients shall use grant funds to establish an emergency crisis assistance team that provides the following mobile mental health crisis intervention programs and services:

    1. Crisis counseling;

    2. Suicide prevention, assessment, and intervention;

    3. Conflict resolution and mediation;

    4. Grief and loss counseling;

    5. Substance abuse prevention, assessment, and intervention;

    6. Housing crisis aid;

    7. First aid and nonemergency medical care;

    8. Resource connection and referrals; and

    9. Transportation to services.

  5. Grant recipients shall provide a report to the state military department on the results of their emergency crisis assistance teams by October 1, 2024. The state military department shall provide a report on the emergency crisis assistance team pilot project to the governor and appropriate committees of the legislature by December 1, 2024.

  6. This section expires January 1, 2025.

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