Bill Text: IL HB5866 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Creates the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Task Force Act. Provides that the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Task Force shall be composed of 12 appointed members and the State's Chief Behavioral Health Officer, or his or her representative. Provides that the 2 Task Force co-chairs shall appoint experts to contribute and participate in the Task Force as nonvoting members. Provides for meetings of the Task Force and responsibilities relating to examination of the first year of implementation and use of the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in Illinois. Requires the development of an action plan with specified recommendations to be filed with the Governor and General Assembly by December 31, 2023. Includes legislative findings. Repeals the Act on January 1, 2025. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-01-04 - Referred to Rules Committee [HB5866 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2021-HB5866-Introduced.html

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102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2021 and 2022 HB5866 Introduced 1/4/2023, by Rep. Will Guzzardi SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
New Act
Creates the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Task Force Act. Provides that the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Task Force shall be composed of 12 appointed members and the State's Chief Behavioral Health Officer, or his or her representative. Provides that the 2 Task Force co-chairs shall appoint experts to contribute and participate in the Task Force as nonvoting members. Provides for meetings of the Task Force and responsibilities relating to examination of the first year of implementation and use of the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in Illinois. Requires the development of an action plan with specified recommendations to be filed with the Governor and General Assembly by December 31, 2023. Includes legislative findings. Repeals the Act on January 1, 2025. Effective immediately.
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A BILL FOR
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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 Task Force 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 three-digit
dialing code for a national suicide prevention and mental
health hotline, meant to offer 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-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 Task Force.
(a) The 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Task Force is
created. The Task Force shall be composed of the following
voting members:
(1) 4 members of the House of Representatives, 2
appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives
and 2 appointed by the Minority Leader of the House of
Representatives;
(2) 4 members of the Senate, 2 appointed by the
President of the Senate and 2 appointed by the Minority
Leader of the Senate;

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(3) a representative from the Department of Human
Services, Division of Mental Health, appointed by the
Governor;
(4) a representative from the Department of Public
Health, appointed by the Governor;
(5) a representative from the Department of Healthcare
and Family Services, appointed by the Governor;
(6) a representative from the Department of Insurance,
appointed by the Governor; and
(7) the State's Chief Behavioral Health Officer, or
his or her representative.
(b) The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the
President of the Senate shall appoint one co-chair from each
chamber of the General Assembly, selecting from the 8 members
appointed under paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a).
(c) The 2 co-chairs shall select expert participants, who
will be nonvoting members, to contribute to and participate in
this Task Force. Expert participants shall include, at a
minimum:
(1) service providers from regional and statewide
9-8-8 call centers;
(2) providers, or representatives of providers, of
community-based mobile crisis response services, including
representation from both urban and nonurban settings;
(3) a representative of an organization that advocates
for people with mental health conditions or substance use

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disorders, or both health conditions and substance use
disorders;
(4) a representative of an organization that operates
an Illinois social services helpline or crisis line other
than 9-8-8;
(5) more than one individual with personal or
family-lived experience of a mental health condition or
substance use disorder;
(6) a representative of the University of Illinois at
Chicago involved in providing research and analytical
support to the State's 9-8-8 operations; and
(7) a representative with expertise in 9-1-1 call
center protocols and operations.
(d) Members and expert participants shall serve without
compensation and are responsible for the cost of all
reasonable and necessary travel expenses connected to Task
Force business.
Task Force members shall be appointed by June 1, 2023. The
Task Force must convene its first meeting by July 1, 2023 and
may meet at other times at the call of a co-chair appointed
under subsection (b). Expert participants shall be selected by
the Task Force co-chairs before the first meeting. The Task
Force may establish committees that address specific issues or
populations and may select expert participants to serve on
committees as needed. The Department of Human Services will
provide administrative and other support to the Task Force.

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(e) If a vacancy occurs in the Task Force membership or
the expert participant membership, the vacancy shall be filled
in the same manner as the original appointment for the
remainder of the term of the Task Force.
Section 15. Responsibilities; action plan.
(a) The Task Force has the following responsibilities:
(1) to review existing information about the first
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 the recommendations and decisions of
previous State-led workgroups on transforming the mental
health crisis response system, including, but not limited
to, the 9-8-8 Stakeholder Coalition and Subcommittees
convened in 2021 and the Statewide Advisory Committee and
Regional Advisory Committees established under the
Community Emergency Services and Support Act;
(3) 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

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interventions, coordination with other crisis lines and
crisis services, and connection to community-based support
for those in need;
(4) to review governmental infrastructures created in
other states to promote sustainability and quality in
9-8-8 call centers and crisis system operations;
(5) to review changes and new initiatives that have
been advanced by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration and Vibrant Emotional Health since
Illinois launched 9-8-8 in July 2022, such as new training
curricula for call takers and new technology platforms;
(6) to consider testimony from call-center personnel,
providers, and advocates about strengths, weaknesses, and
service gaps in Illinois; and
(7) to develop an action plan with recommendations to
the Governor and 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

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measurement of success in Illinois;
(C) a plan to sustainably fund a statewide 9-8-8
call center network under subparagraphs (A) and (B) in
fiscal year 2025 and beyond, which shall identify
potential funding sources, future funding amounts, and
a mechanism by which funding needs can be calculated;
(D) 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
(E) 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
Task Force members who are voting members.
(b) The Task Force shall complete and file the action plan
with the Governor and General Assembly by no later than
December 31, 2023.
(c) Nothing in the action plan filed under this Section
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.

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Section 20. Repeal. This Act is repealed on January 1,
2025.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.