9–8–8 Connect Act

Key Points

• The bill creates a $30 million grant program for crisis centers in the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline network to provide follow-up care to people who contact the lifeline by call, text, or chat and are identified as at risk of suicide or experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis.
• Follow-up services can include wellness check-ins, outreach to keep people connected with care, coordination with family and caregivers, and referrals to appropriate levels of care. All follow-up requires the person's informed consent, which they can withdraw at any time.
• Strict privacy protections prevent crisis centers from sharing personal information with outside parties without written, revocable consent. Centers must also ensure follow-up does not lead to involuntary or coercive interventions unless there is imminent risk.
• Phone companies would be required to connect all 9-8-8 calls and texts, including those from phones without an active service plan. This ensures anyone with a working cell phone can reach the crisis lifeline during a mental health emergency.
• Multi-line phone systems in places like offices and hotels would need to allow direct dialing of 9-8-8, just like they already must for 9-1-1. Older systems that cannot be updated without hardware or software changes are exempt.

Votes

No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.

Related Bills

No related bills have been identified yet.