Rep. Will Guzzardi

Filed: 3/14/2023

 

 


 

 


 
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1
AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 1364

2    AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 1364 by replacing
3everything after the enacting clause with the following:
 
4    "Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the 9-8-8
5Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Workgroup Act.
 
6    Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds that:
7    (1) In the summer of 2022, 31% of Illinois adults
8experienced symptoms of anxiety or depression more than half
9of the days of each week, which is an increase of 20% since
102019.
11    (2) Suicide is the third leading cause of death in
12Illinois for young adults who are 15 to 34 years of age, and it
13is the 11th leading cause of death for all Illinoisans. In
142021, 1,488 Illinois lives were lost to suicide, and an
15estimated 376,000 adults had thoughts of suicide.
16    (3) Historically, people in Illinois and nationwide have

 

 

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1had few and fragmented options to call upon during a mental
2health crisis and have relied upon 9-1-1 and various privately
3funded crisis lines for help.
4    (4) In July 2022, Illinois joined the nation in launching
5the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, a universal 3-digit
6dialing code for a national suicide prevention and mental
7health hotline, meant to offer 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week
8access to trained counselors who can help people experiencing
9mental health-related distress.
10    (5) Congress delegated to the states significant
11decision-making responsibility for structuring and funding the
12states' 9-8-8 call center networks.
13    (6) States had limited data on which to base their initial
14decisions because the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
15Services Administration's projections of future increases in
16call volumes varied widely, and there was no national
17best-practice model for the number and organization of 9-8-8
18call centers.
19    (7) The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
20Administration described the 2022 launch of 9-8-8 as being
21just the first step toward reimagining our country's mental
22health crisis system and stipulated that long-term
23transformation will rely on the willingness of states and
24territories to build and invest strategically in every level
25of the continuum of mental health crisis care over the next
26several years.

 

 

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1    (8) In 2023, the General Assembly and other State leaders
2can assess the first year of operations of the 9-8-8 call
3center system, identify legislative solutions to any funding
4and programmatic gaps that are emerging, and set the course
5for Illinois to eventually lead the country in providing
6quality and accessible 9-8-8 care and in connecting
7individuals with the mental health resources necessary to
8sustain long-term recovery.
9    (9) The launch of the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
10has created a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve
11mental health crisis care in Illinois.
12    (10) Illinois' success or failure in building a
13high-quality call center network in the initial years will be
14an important factor in determining whether 9-8-8 is perceived
15as a trusted resource in the State.
16    (11) Illinois' success or failure in building a
17high-quality 9-8-8 call center network will disproportionately
18affect Black, Brown, and other marginalized residents who are
19most likely to rely on crisis services to access mental health
20care and are most likely to be criminalized or harmed by the
21existing crisis response system.
 
22    Section 10. Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Workgroup.
23    (a) The Department of Human Services, Division of Mental
24Health, shall convene a working group that includes:
25        (1) bicameral, bipartisan members of the General

 

 

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1    Assembly;
2        (2) at least one representative from the Department of
3    Human Services, Division of Substance Use Prevention and
4    Recovery; the Department of Public Health; the Department
5    of Healthcare and Family Services; and the Department of
6    Insurance;
7        (3) the State's Chief Behavioral Health Officer;
8        (4) the Director of the Children's Behavioral Health
9    Transformation Initiative;
10        (5) service providers from the regional and statewide
11    9-8-8 call centers;
12        (6) representatives of organizations that represent
13    people with mental health conditions or substance use
14    disorders;
15        (7) representatives of organizations that operate an
16    Illinois social services helpline or crisis line other
17    than 9-8-8, including veterans' crisis services;
18        (8) more than one individual with personal or family
19    lived experience of a mental health condition or substance
20    use disorder;
21        (9) experts in research and operational evaluation;
22    and
23        (10) and any other person or persons as determined by
24    the Department of Human Services, Division of Mental
25    Health.
26    (b) On or before December 31, 2023, the Department of

 

 

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1Human Services, Division of Mental Health, shall submit a
2report to the General Assembly regarding the Workgroup's
3findings under Section 15 related to the 9-8-8 call system.
 
4    Section 15. Responsibilities; action plan.
5    (a) The Workforce has the following responsibilities:
6        (1) to review existing information about the first
7    year of 9-8-8 call center operations in Illinois,
8    including, but not limited to, state-level and
9    county-level use data, progress around the federal
10    measures of success determined by the Substance Abuse and
11    Mental Health Services Administration, and research
12    conducted by any State-contracted partners around cost
13    projections, best-practice standards, and geographic
14    needs;
15        (2) to review other states' models and emerging best
16    practices around structuring 9-8-8 call center networks,
17    with an emphasis on promoting high-quality phone
18    interventions, coordination with other crisis lines and
19    crisis services, and connection to community-based support
20    for those in need;
21        (3) to review governmental infrastructures created in
22    other states to promote sustainability and quality in
23    9-8-8 call centers and crisis system operations;
24        (4) to review changes and new initiatives that have
25    been advanced by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health

 

 

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1    Services Administration and Vibrant Emotional Health since
2    Vibrant transitioned to 9-8-8 in July 2022, such as new
3    training curricula for call takers and new technology
4    platforms;
5        (5) to consider input from call center personnel,
6    providers, and advocates about strengths, weaknesses, and
7    service gaps in Illinois; and
8        (6) to develop an action plan with recommendations to
9    the General Assembly that include the following:
10            (A) a future structure for a network of 9-8-8 call
11        centers in Illinois that will best promote equity,
12        quality, and connection to care;
13            (B) metrics that Illinois should use to measure
14        the success of our statewide system in promoting
15        equity, quality, and connection to care and a system
16        to measure those metrics, considering the metrics
17        imposed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
18        Services Administration as only a starting point for
19        measurement of success in Illinois;
20            (C) recommendations to further fund and strengthen
21        the rest of Illinois' behavioral health services and
22        crisis assistance programs based on lessons learned
23        from 9-8-8 use; and
24            (D) recommendations on a long-term governmental
25        infrastructure to provide advice and recommendations
26        necessary to sustainably implement and monitor the

 

 

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1        progress of the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in
2        Illinois and to make recommendations for the statewide
3        improvement of behavioral health crisis response and
4        suicide prevention services in the State.
5        The action plan shall be approved by a majority of
6    Workgroup members.
7    (b) Nothing in the action plan filed under this Section
8shall be construed to supersede the recommendations of the
9Statewide Advisory Committee or Regional Advisory Committees
10created by the Community Emergency Services and Support Act.
 
11    Section 20. Repeal. This Act is repealed on January 1,
122025.
 
13    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
14becoming law.".