HB1191: Marcus alert system; participation in the system is optional for localities, etc.

Legislative Summary

Marcus alert system; participation. Extends the date by which localities shall establish voluntary databases to be made available to the 9-1-1 alert system and the Marcus alert system to provide relevant mental health information and emergency contact information for appropriate response to an emergency or crisis from July 1, 2021, to July 1, 2023, and provides an exemption to the requirement that localities establish protocols for local law-enforcement agencies to enter into memorandums of agreement with mobile crisis response providers regarding requests for law-enforcement back-up during mobile crisis or community care team response and minimum standards, best practices, and a system for the review and approval of protocols for law-enforcement participation in the Marcus alert system for localities with a population that is less than or equal to 40,000, so that localities with a population that is less than or equal to 40,000 may but are not required to establish such protocols. The bill also requires the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to include in its annual report to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Committees for Courts of Justice and on Health, Welfare and Institutions, the Senate Committees on the Judiciary and Education and Health, and the Behavioral Health Commission information regarding barriers to establishment of local Marcus alert programs and community care or mobile crisis teams to provide mobile crisis response in geographical areas served by community services boards or behavioral health agencies in which such programs and teams have not been established and a plan for addressing such barriers.