(a) (1) No later than December 31, 2024, the California Health and Human Services Agency shall create a set of recommendations to support a five-year implementation plan for a comprehensive 988 system. (2) The California Health and Human Services Agency shall convene a state 988 advisory group for purposes of advising the California Health and Human Services Agency on the set of recommendations to support the five-year implementation plan. The recommendations shall specify what can be accomplished pursuant to existing administrative authority and what will require additional legislation for implementation. (3) The advisory group shall include, but is not limited to, the State Department of Health Care Services, the office, the State Department of Public Health, representatives of counties, representatives of employees working for county behavioral health agencies and agencies who subcontract with county behavioral health agencies who provide these services, health plans, emergency medical services, law enforcement, consumers, families, peers, 988 centers, and other local and statewide public agencies. (4) The advisory group shall meet at least once per quarter until December 31, 2024. (5) The advisory group may be disbanded at the discretion of the California Health and Human Services Agency, but shall not be disbanded before January 1, 2025. (b) The California Health and Human Services Agency and the advisory group shall make recommendations on all of the following: (1) Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration requirements and national best practices guidelines for operational and clinical standards, including training requirements and policies for transferring callers to an appropriate specialized center, or subnetworks, within or external to, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline network. (2) Maintenance of an active agreement with the administrator of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline for participation within the network. (3) Compliance with state technology requirements or guidelines for the operation of 988. (4) A state governance structure to support the implementation and administration of behavioral health crisis services accessed through 988. (5) 988 infrastructure, staffing, and training standards that will support statewide access to crisis counselors through telephone call, text, and chat, 24 hours per day, seven days per week. (6) Access to crisis stabilization services and triage and response to warm handoffs from 911 and 988 call centers. (7) Resources and policy changes to address statewide and regional needs in order to meet population needs for behavioral health crisis services. (8) Statewide and regional public communications strategies informed by the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to support public awareness and consistent messaging regarding 988 and behavioral health crisis services. (9) Recommendations to achieve coordination between 988 and the continuum of behavioral health crisis services. Recommendations shall address strategies for verifying that behavioral health crisis services are coordinated for a timely response to clearly articulated suicidal or behavioral health contacts made or routed to 988 services as an alternative to a response from law enforcement, except in high-risk situations that cannot be safely managed without law enforcement response and achieving statewide provision of connection to mobile crisis services, when appropriate, to respond to individuals in crisis in a timely manner. (10) Quantifiable goals for the provision of statewide and regional behavioral health crisis services, which consider factors such as reported rates of suicide attempts and deaths. (11) A process for establishing outcome measures, benchmarks, and improvement targets for 988 centers and the behavioral health crisis services system. This may include recommendations regarding how to measure, the feasi
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