Bill Text: NJ S4485 | 2026-2027 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Converts community crisis response team pilot program into permanent program; appropriates $6 million.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2)
Status: (Introduced) 2026-06-22 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Law and Public Safety Committee [S4485 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2026-S4485-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator BENJIE E. WIMBERLY
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
Senator ANGELA V. MCKNIGHT
District 31 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Converts community crisis response team pilot program into permanent program; appropriates $6 million.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the community crisis response team pilot program, amending and supplementing P.L.2023, c.259, and making an appropriation.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 5 of P.L.2023, c.259 (C.52:17B-236.5) is amended to read as follows:
5. a. The Attorney General shall establish a [pilot] program, which may operate in Camden, Essex, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, and Passaic [Counties] counties, to permit eligible municipalities and community-based organizations to operate community crisis response teams in accordance with the provisions of P.L.2023, c.259 (C.52:17B-236.1 et al.).
b. The Attorney General shall develop a request for proposals, in accordance with the minimum application requirements outlined in section 6 of P.L.2023, c.259 (C.52:17B-236.6), from [municipalities] each municipality and [organizations] organization interested in participating in the [pilot] program[, to review] that includes standards for reviewing completed proposals, [create] creating a scoring panel for submitted proposals, and [to issue] issuing grant awards to municipalities or organizations to plan or implement a community crisis response team, as defined in section 3 of P.L.2023, c.259 (C.52:17B-236.3). The Attorney General shall annually publish a request for proposals pursuant to this section [not later than 90 days after the effective date of P.L.2023, c.259 (C.52:17B-236.1 et al.)]. The Attorney General shall announce [grants] grant awards not later than 90 days after the completion of the request for proposals. The council shall not be involved in the grant award process. Organizations represented by or affiliated with a member of the council shall not be disqualified from applying for a grant award.
c. Grants may be used for the following purposes:
(1) project planning and community engagement, including:
(a) research and assessment of need;
(b) development of staffing plans;
(c) resource mapping;
(d) training;
(e) development of a community engagement plan;
(f) fiscal planning;
(g) engagement with technical assistance providers or consulting services; and
(h) evaluation planning; and
(2) project implementation, including:
(a) staffing and recruitment;
(b) [facilities] facility costs;
(c) operational costs, including costs of startup or expansion activities, marketing, language translation, and transportation;
(d) engagement with technical assistance providers;
(e) consulting services;
(f) training;
[g] (g) program and project evaluation, including evaluation of program and project efficacy, staff performance, and service delivery; and
[h.] (h) programming and service interventions that include activities that prioritize human service interventions[,] by entities other than law enforcement, over interventions by law enforcement, or activities that include triaging emergencies, through emergency dispatch operators, in a manner that results in a referral to a wholly non-police entity.
(cf: P.L.2023, c.259, s.5)
2. Section 6 of P.L.2023, c.259 (C.52:17B-236.6) is amended to read as follows:
6. a. To be eligible to receive a grant pursuant to the [pilot] program established in section 5 of P.L.2023, c.259 (C.52:17B-236.5):
(1) a municipality shall be a municipality of the first class in Essex, Hudson, [and] or Passaic [Counties] county; a municipality of the second class having a population of more than 70,000 and density of 8,000 to 12,000 according to the 2020 federal decennial census in Camden [and] or Mercer [Counties] county; [and] or a municipality of the second class having a population of more than 55,000 and density of between 10,000 and 11,000 according to the 2020 federal decennial census in Middlesex [County] county; and have an entity that operates as a violence interrupter community street team within its boundaries; and
(2) a community-based organization shall be located within a municipality that meets the criteria set forth in paragraph (1) of this subsection.
Additionally, an applicant is required to demonstrate an established relationship with a State-approved harm reduction center, be a State-approved community violence intervention program, or both. The Department of Law and Public Safety shall be required to prioritize issuing grants to an applicant that currently operates as a violence interrupter community street team and has been State-approved for a period of not less than two years.
b. An applicant shall submit an application to the Department of Law and Public Safety as outlined in the request for proposals that includes, at a minimum, the following:
(1) for planning grants:
(a) a list of stakeholders and potential stakeholders that will participate in the planning process, which may include community-based organizations and government partners[,] and shall include a State-approved harm reduction center or another organization that provides harm reduction services; and
(b) strategies for sustained community engagement and feedback processes; and
(2) for implementation grants:
(a) a list of stakeholders and potential stakeholders that will participate in the project, which shall include a State-authorized harm reduction center or another organization that provides harm reduction services;
(b) a framework for how the program will be incorporated into a government department or work in cooperation with a government department;
(c) a dispatch model and flowchart;
(d) the metrics by which the program will be evaluated;
(e) strategies for peer staffing and retention;
(f) strategies for warm handoff and sustained follow-up of participants;
(g) a statement describing the manner in which a community crisis response team will divert behavioral health calls from the purview of law enforcement [of response] while ensuring rapid, sufficient medical response when needed;
(h) a statement describing the manner in which a community crisis response team will prevent and divert individuals from involvement in the criminal justice system;
(i) a statement describing the manner in which the program will prioritize racial and gender equity in the allocation of services and resources; and
(j) a proposed community crisis response team budget.
c. Grants awarded annually under the [pilot] program [shall not exceed a total of $12,000,000 and the amount awarded] to applicants in each eligible municipality shall not exceed $2,000,000 per municipality. Applicants and municipalities may be awarded grants in successive years. A law enforcement agency shall not be the recipient of a grant.
(cf: P.L.2023, c.259, s.6)
3. Section 7 of P.L.2023, c.259 (C.52:17B-236.7) is amended to read as follows:
7. The council shall submit an annual report to the Governor and the Legislature, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), on the status of the [pilot] program established in section 5 of P.L.2023, c.259 (C.52:17B-236.5). Three years following the date of enactment, the council shall submit a [final] report to the Governor and the Legislature, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), on the outcomes resulting from the [pilot] programs to-date and recommendations for the actions necessary to support the continuation and expansion of community crisis response models in the State of New Jersey. The reports issued pursuant to this section shall be public.
(cf: P.L.2023, c.259, s.7)
4. (New section) For fiscal year 2028 and in each subsequent fiscal year, the Department of Law and Public Safety shall request annually as part of its budget proposal a minimum of $6,000,000 to support the activities and staffing of the council and award grants to participants of the program established in section 5 of P.L.2023, c.259 (C.52:17B-236.5).
5. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Law and Public Safety the sum of $6,000,000 to effectuate the provisions of this act.
6. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill converts the community crisis response team pilot program established by the "Seabrooks-Washington Community-Led Crisis Response Act" into a permanent program.
Under the "Seabrooks-Washington Community-Led Crisis Response Act," a "community crisis response team" means a team that provides professional, on-site, community-based intervention for individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis. Currently, the act provides for a one-time $12 million appropriation to the Department of Law and Public Safety to administer a pilot program facilitating the operation of community crisis response teams and to support the Community Crisis Response Advisory Council, which was also created by the act.
This bill provides for a $6 million supplemental appropriation for fiscal year 2027 and, beginning in fiscal year 2028, requires the Department of Law and Public Safety to request $6 million annually to support the activities and staffing of the Community Crisis Response Advisory Council and award grants to applicants to the community crisis response team program. The Attorney General is required to publish annually a request for proposals to allocate this funding to grant applicants. While a municipality may receive funding in successive years, a municipality and its applicants may only receive a maximum of $2 million in grant funding each year under the bill.
