HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3884        FILED ON: 2/19/2021

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2461

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Brandy Fluker Oakley

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act to enhance 911 operations for behavioral health crisis response.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3884        FILED ON: 2/19/2021

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2461

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Second General Court
(2021-2022)

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An Act to enhance 911 operations for behavioral health crisis response.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Section 18B of chapter 6A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2018 Official Edition, is hereby amended after the words “the commissioner of public health,”, in line 26, by inserting the following words:- the commissioner of mental health.

SECTION 2. Said section 18B of said chapter 6A, as so appearing is hereby further amended by striking out the words “and 11 members to be appointed by the governor” and inserting in place thereof the following:- “and 14 members to be appointed by the governor”.

Said section 18B of said chapter 6A, as so appearing is hereby further amended by striking out the words “and 1 of whom shall be a manager or supervisor of a PSAP and a nominated representative of the Massachusetts Communication Supervisors Association” and inserting in place thereof the following:- “, 1 of whom shall be a manager or supervisor of a PSAP and a nominated representative of the Massachusetts Communication Supervisors Association, 1 of whom shall be a nominated representative of the Association for Behavioral Healthcare with experience in delivering Psychiatric Emergency Services, 1 of whom shall be an individual with lived experience with behavioral health conditions and interactions with police, and 1 of whom shall be a nominated representative of the American Civil Liberties Union Massachusetts.”

SECTION 3. The State 911 Department shall within 180 days of passage of this Act update 560 CMR 5.00 to integrate training on behavioral health conditions. Such training shall include Crisis Intervention Training for certified Enhanced 911 Telecommunicators and the appropriate diversion of people with behavioral health conditions away from law enforcement response into the certification standards for Enhanced 911 Telecommunicators.

SECTION 4. Section 18B of Chapter 6A of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out the last two sentences of paragraph (2) in subsection (i):- “In the guidelines administering this grant, the department may include provisions to increase the allocation of funds to primary PSAPs provided under this grant that dispatch police, fire protection and emergency medical services, taking into account if any such services are provided by a private safety department. The department may include in such guidelines provisions to increase the allocation of funds to regional secondary PSAPs that dispatch any combination of regional police, fire protection or emergency medical services.” and inserting in place thereof:- “In the guidelines administering this grant, the department may include provisions to increase the allocation of funds to primary PSAPs provided under this grant that dispatch police, fire protection, emergency medical services, and behavioral health crisis response services, taking into account if any such services are provided by a private safety department. The department may include in such guidelines provisions to increase the allocation of funds to regional secondary PSAPs that dispatch any combination of regional police, fire protection, emergency medical services, or behavioral health crisis response services.”.

SECTION 5. Said section 18B of said chapter 6A, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after subsection (i)(5) the following new subsection:-

(6) The behavioral health crisis response incentive grant shall provide grant funding to primary, regional, and regional secondary PSAPs and regional emergency communication centers for allowable expenses related to integrating behavioral health crisis response telecommunications and dispatch capacity into emergency telecommunications and dispatch responses.  Allowable costs to be covered by grant funding include personnel, certification training, upgrading computer-aided dispatch systems, and technological and personnel expenses associated with establishing relationships for warm hand-offs to emergency service providers of behavioral health crisis response, mobile integrated health programs, suicide prevention hotlines, and other behavioral health crisis and emergency responders.  The Department of Mental Health shall serve as an advisor to the 911 Department in the development of this grant program and in selecting grantees for awards made under this grant program.  The grant program shall include a requirement that grantees shall work to integrate 988, co-responder programs, Emergency Service Providers, and other behavioral health crisis and emergency response programs that can serve as alternatives to law enforcement into their emergency communications plans.  The grant program shall require that grantees review and update emergency call decision trees, dispatch protocols, and computer-aided dispatch call codes in order to increase diversion of behavioral health calls for service to qualified behavioral health professionals such as those listed above.

SECTION 6: Chapter 6A of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 18C, as so appearing, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 18C. (a) Each PSAP shall be capable of transmitting a request for law enforcement, fire fighting, medical, ambulance, emergency service provider or other emergency services to a public or private safety department that provides the requested services.

(b) Each primary and regional PSAP shall be equipped with a system approved by the department for the processing of requests for emergency services from people with disabilities.

(c) Each primary and regional PSAP shall be equipped with a system approved by the department for the processing of requests for emergency services from people with mental health and substance use conditions.

(d) A public safety department or private safety department that receives a request for emergency service outside of its jurisdiction shall promptly forward the request to the PSAP or public safety department responsible for that geographical area. Any emergency unit dispatched to a location outside its jurisdiction in the commonwealth in response to such request shall render service to the requesting party until relieved by the public safety department responsible for that geographical area.

(e) Except as approved by the department, no person shall permit an automatic alarm or other alerting device to dial the numbers 911 automatically or provide a prerecorded message in order to access emergency services directly.

(f) Municipalities may enter into written cooperative agreements to carry out subsections (a) through (d).