Bill Text: IL HB1364 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Engrossed

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Reinserts the provisions of the introduced bill with the following changes. Changes the short title of the Act to the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Workgroup Act. Provides that the Department of Human Services, Division of Mental Health, shall convene a working group that includes members of the General Assembly, representatives of State agencies, the State's Chief Behavioral Health Officer, the Director of the Children's Behavioral Health Transformation Initiative, service providers from the regional and statewide 9-8-8 call centers, representatives of organizations that represent people with mental health conditions or substance use disorders and that operate an Illinois social services helpline or crisis line other than 9-8-8, including veterans' crisis services, more than one individual with personal or family lived experience of a mental health condition or substance use disorder, experts in research and operational evaluation, and any other person or persons as determined by the Department of Human Services, Division of Mental Health. Requires the Department of Human Services, Division of Mental Health, to submit a report to the General Assembly regarding the Workgroup's findings related to the 9-8-8 call system. Modifies the Workgroup's responsibilities, including removing requirements to review the recommendations and decisions of previous State-led workgroups on transforming the mental health crisis response system and that the action plan must include a plan to sustainably fund a statewide 9-8-8 call center network in fiscal year 2025 and beyond. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 28-2)

Status: (Passed) 2023-06-27 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 103-0105 [HB1364 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HB1364-Engrossed.html

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AN ACT concerning government.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the 9-8-8
Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Workgroup Act.
Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds that:
(1) In the summer of 2022, 31% of Illinois adults
experienced symptoms of anxiety or depression more than half
of the days of each week, which is an increase of 20% since
2019.
(2) Suicide is the third leading cause of death in
Illinois for young adults who are 15 to 34 years of age, and it
is the 11th leading cause of death for all Illinoisans. In
2021, 1,488 Illinois lives were lost to suicide, and an
estimated 376,000 adults had thoughts of suicide.
(3) Historically, people in Illinois and nationwide have
had few and fragmented options to call upon during a mental
health crisis and have relied upon 9-1-1 and various privately
funded crisis lines for help.
(4) In July 2022, Illinois joined the nation in launching
the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, a universal 3-digit
dialing code for a national suicide prevention and mental
health hotline, meant to offer 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week

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access to trained counselors who can help people experiencing
mental health-related distress.
(5) Congress delegated to the states significant
decision-making responsibility for structuring and funding the
states' 9-8-8 call center networks.
(6) States had limited data on which to base their initial
decisions because the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration's projections of future increases in
call volumes varied widely, and there was no national
best-practice model for the number and organization of 9-8-8
call centers.
(7) The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration described the 2022 launch of 9-8-8 as being
just the first step toward reimagining our country's mental
health crisis system and stipulated that long-term
transformation will rely on the willingness of states and
territories to build and invest strategically in every level
of the continuum of mental health crisis care over the next
several years.
(8) In 2023, the General Assembly and other State leaders
can assess the first year of operations of the 9-8-8 call
center system, identify legislative solutions to any funding
and programmatic gaps that are emerging, and set the course
for Illinois to eventually lead the country in providing
quality and accessible 9-8-8 care and in connecting
individuals with the mental health resources necessary to

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sustain long-term recovery.
(9) The launch of the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
has created a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve
mental health crisis care in Illinois.
(10) Illinois' success or failure in building a
high-quality call center network in the initial years will be
an important factor in determining whether 9-8-8 is perceived
as a trusted resource in the State.
(11) Illinois' success or failure in building a
high-quality 9-8-8 call center network will disproportionately
affect Black, Brown, and other marginalized residents who are
most likely to rely on crisis services to access mental health
care and are most likely to be criminalized or harmed by the
existing crisis response system.
Section 10. Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Workgroup.
(a) The Department of Human Services, Division of Mental
Health, shall convene a working group that includes:
(1) bicameral, bipartisan members of the General
Assembly;
(2) at least one representative from the Department of
Human Services, Division of Substance Use Prevention and
Recovery; the Department of Public Health; the Department
of Healthcare and Family Services; and the Department of
Insurance;
(3) the State's Chief Behavioral Health Officer;

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(4) the Director of the Children's Behavioral Health
Transformation Initiative;
(5) service providers from the regional and statewide
9-8-8 call centers;
(6) representatives of organizations that represent
people with mental health conditions or substance use
disorders;
(7) representatives of organizations that operate an
Illinois social services helpline or crisis line other
than 9-8-8, including veterans' crisis services;
(8) more than one individual with personal or family
lived experience of a mental health condition or substance
use disorder;
(9) experts in research and operational evaluation;
and
(10) and any other person or persons as determined by
the Department of Human Services, Division of Mental
Health.
(b) On or before December 31, 2023, the Department of
Human Services, Division of Mental Health, shall submit a
report to the General Assembly regarding the Workgroup's
findings under Section 15 related to the 9-8-8 call system.
Section 15. Responsibilities; action plan.
(a) The Workforce has the following responsibilities:
(1) to review existing information about the first

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year of 9-8-8 call center operations in Illinois,
including, but not limited to, state-level and
county-level use data, progress around the federal
measures of success determined by the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration, and research
conducted by any State-contracted partners around cost
projections, best-practice standards, and geographic
needs;
(2) to review other states' models and emerging best
practices around structuring 9-8-8 call center networks,
with an emphasis on promoting high-quality phone
interventions, coordination with other crisis lines and
crisis services, and connection to community-based support
for those in need;
(3) to review governmental infrastructures created in
other states to promote sustainability and quality in
9-8-8 call centers and crisis system operations;
(4) to review changes and new initiatives that have
been advanced by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration and Vibrant Emotional Health since
Vibrant transitioned to 9-8-8 in July 2022, such as new
training curricula for call takers and new technology
platforms;
(5) to consider input from call center personnel,
providers, and advocates about strengths, weaknesses, and
service gaps in Illinois; and

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(6) to develop an action plan with recommendations to
the General Assembly that include the following:
(A) a future structure for a network of 9-8-8 call
centers in Illinois that will best promote equity,
quality, and connection to care;
(B) metrics that Illinois should use to measure
the success of our statewide system in promoting
equity, quality, and connection to care and a system
to measure those metrics, considering the metrics
imposed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration as only a starting point for
measurement of success in Illinois;
(C) recommendations to further fund and strengthen
the rest of Illinois' behavioral health services and
crisis assistance programs based on lessons learned
from 9-8-8 use; and
(D) recommendations on a long-term governmental
infrastructure to provide advice and recommendations
necessary to sustainably implement and monitor the
progress of the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in
Illinois and to make recommendations for the statewide
improvement of behavioral health crisis response and
suicide prevention services in the State.
The action plan shall be approved by a majority of
Workgroup members.
(b) Nothing in the action plan filed under this Section

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shall be construed to supersede the recommendations of the
Statewide Advisory Committee or Regional Advisory Committees
created by the Community Emergency Services and Support Act.
Section 20. Repeal. This Act is repealed on January 1,
2025.