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Bill Summary · SB 181

SB 181 — Increase Funding for Mobile Crisis Units (Introduced Jan 23, 2025)

Status: Withdrawn from Committee

Main purpose

Provide recurring state funding to expand community-based mobile crisis response by adding five new mobile crisis teams, targeted to areas of highest need. The goal is to strengthen non‑police responses to behavioral health emergencies and improve access to crisis care.

Key provisions

  • Appropriation: $2,000,000 in recurring General Fund dollars each fiscal year of the 2025–2027 biennium (i.e., $2.0 million per year).
  • Recipient/Administration: Funds allocated to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Use Services.
  • Use of funds: Support creation/deployment of five additional mobile crisis teams (teams intended to provide on‑site behavioral health crisis assessment, stabilization, referral and linkage to services).
  • Effective date: July 1, 2025 (bill text specifies implementation beginning FY 2025–26).

Fiscal impact

  • Direct appropriation: $2,000,000 recurring per year.
  • Per-team illustration: if allocated evenly, ~$400,000 per team annually (this is a simple division — actual distribution may vary by DHHS priorities and local cost differences).
  • Secondary impacts: potential downstream savings where mobile crisis teams reduce emergency department visits, arrests, or short‑term inpatient stays; those savings are not specified or quantified in the bill text.

Who would be affected

  • DHHS (administration and oversight through its Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Use Services).
  • Community behavioral health providers (potential recipients/subcontractors to staff and operate teams).
  • People experiencing mental health or substance use crises and their families — greater access to urgent, community‑based crisis care.
  • Public safety and emergency medical services — potential reduction in law enforcement/EMS transports for behavioral health crises in communities served.
  • Local governments and health systems may see operational/financial effects depending on coordination agreements.

Procedural / timeline notes

  • Introduced: Jan 23, 2025 (per bill header). In some legislative calendars the bill appears as introduced or filed in late Feb 2025 in the relevant chamber.
  • Status provided by requester: Withdrawn from committee (i.e., the bill did not advance through the committee process in its current form).
  • If enacted, funds become available beginning FY 2025–26 (effective date July 1, 2025) and continue as recurring appropriations through the biennium specified.

Implementation considerations (not in bill text)

  • DHHS would need to define program guidelines, team composition (clinicians, peer specialists, vehicle/dispatch arrangements), geographic targeting criteria, and contracting/monitoring processes.
  • Hiring, training, vehicles and local coordination agreements represent lead‑time and startup costs; the $2M/year must cover both startup and ongoing operating costs unless supplemented.
  • Performance metrics and data collection (e.g., number of responses, diversions from ED/arrest, linkages to follow‑up care) would inform evaluation and future funding decisions.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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