(1) There is created in the department of local affairs, referred to in this section as the "department", the peace officers behavioral health support and community partnerships grant program to provide grants to law enforcement agencies, behavioral health entities, county or district public health agencies, community-based social service and behavioral health providers, peace officer organizations, and public safety agencies for the purposes identified in subsection (2) of this section. (2) Grant recipients may use money received through the grant program for the following purposes: (a) Co-responder community responses; (b) Community-based alternative responses; (c) Counseling services for peace officers and their immediate family members, including reimbursing peace officers who have paid the costs of their own counseling services; (d) Assistance for law enforcement agencies' development and implementation of policies to support peace officers who are involved in a shooting or a fatal use of force; (e) Training and education programs that teach peace officers and their immediate family members the symptoms of job-related mental trauma and how to prevent and treat such trauma; (f) Peer support programs for peace officers; and (g) Hiring, contracting, or developing a remote network to provide behavioral health counseling, therapy, or other related support services to peace officers involved in job-related traumatic situations. (2.5) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2021.) (3) Public safety agencies, law enforcement agencies, and peace officer organizations that apply for grants pursuant to subsection (2) of this section are encouraged to do so, to the extent possible, in collaboration with the community mental health centers and other community-based social service or behavioral health providers in their regions. (4) The department shall administer the grant program and, subject to available appropriations, shall award grants as provided in this section from the fund created in subsection (7) of this section. The department shall transfer the awarded grant money to a grant recipient as soon as practicable after the grant recipient's grant application is approved. (5) The executive director of the department, or the executive director's designee, shall develop policies and procedures as may be necessary to implement and administer the grant program. At a minimum, the policies and procedures must specify: (a) The time frames for applying for grants, the form of the grant program application, and the time frames for distributing grant money; (b) The criteria for the department to use in awarding and denying grants; (c) That a public safety agency may apply for a grant for the purpose outlined in subsection (2)(a) or (2)(b) of this section; (d) That a law enforcement agency or peace officer organization may apply for a grant for the purposes outlined in subsections (2)(a) to (2)(f) of this section; and (e) That a behavioral health entity, county or district public health agency, or community-based social service or behavioral health provider may apply for a grant in partnership with a law enforcement agency or public safety agency for the purposes outlined in subsection (2)(a) or (2)(b) of this section. (6) (a) In accordance with a schedule to be determined pursuant to policies and procedures developed by the executive director of the department, each grant recipient shall submit to the department a report that describes and includes documentation of the grant recipient's use of the grant money. The report must also include any information required by the department pursuant to the policies or procedures developed by the department pursuant to subsection (5) of this section. In preparing the report, each grant recipient shall redact the names and any other personal identifying information of each peace officer who received services, training, or education with grant money. (b) (I) Repealed. (II) Beginning with the 2023 regular legislative session and each year thereafter, the department shall prepare a report of the activities of the grant program and post the report on its website. (7) (a) The peace officers behavioral health support and community partnership fund, referred to in this section as the "fund", is created in the state treasury. The fund consists of gifts, grants, and donations credited to the fund pursuant to subsection (7)(b) of this section and any other money that the general assembly may appropriate or transfer to the fund. Subject to annual appropriation by the general assembly, the department may expend money from the fund for the purposes of this section. Any unexpended and unencumbered money from an appropriation made for the purposes of this section remains available for expenditure by the department for the next two fiscal years without further appropriation. The department may use up to seven percent of the money annually appropriated to the fund to pay the direct and indirect costs that the department incurs in administering the grant program. (b) The department may seek, accept, and expend gifts, grants, or donations from private or public sources for the purposes of this section. The department shall transmit all money received through gifts, grants, or donations to the state treasurer, who shall credit the money to the fund. (c) The state treasurer shall credit all interest and income derived from the deposit and investment of money in the fund to the fund. At the end of any fiscal year, all unexpended and unencumbered money in the fund remains therein and shall not be credited or transferred to the general fund or any other fund. (d) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2021.) (8) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires: (a) "Behavioral health entity" means a behavioral health entity licensed pursuant to article 27.6 of title 25. (b) "Community-based alternative response" means a person-centered crisis response to community members who are experiencing problems related to poverty, homelessness, behavioral health, food insecurity, and other social issues, that directs certain calls for police service to more appropriate support providers in lieu of a police response. (c) "Community-based social services and behavioral health providers" means providers of community-based alternative response and co-responder community response. (d) "Co-responder community response" means a model of criminal justice diversion that pairs law enforcement and behavioral health providers to intervene and respond to behavioral health-related calls for police service, utilizing the combined expertise of the law enforcement officer and behavioral health specialist to de-escalate situations and help link individuals with behavioral health issues to appropriate services. (e) "County or district public health agency" means a county or district public health agency created pursuant to section 25-1-506. (f) "Law enforcement agency" means the Colorado state patrol, the Colorado bureau of investigation, the department of corrections, the department of revenue, a county sheriff's office, a municipal police department, a campus police department, a town marshal's office, or the division of parks and wildlife. (g) "Peace officer organization" means: (I) A statewide association of police officers and former police officers; or (II) An organization within the state that provides services and programs that promote the mental health wellness of peace officers and that has at least one peace officer or former peace officer serving on its board of directors or in a comparable capacity. (h) "Public safety agency" means an agency providing law enforcement, fire protection, emergency medical, emergency response services, or emergency dispatch services in response to 911 calls, as defined in section 29-11-103 (3). (9) In addition to any other money appropriated or transferred to the fund, for state fiscal year 2022-23, the general assembly shall appropriate three million dollars from the general fund to the fund. The money appropriated pursuant to this section must be used for purposes described in subsections (2)(c) to (2)(g) of this section. This subsection (9) is repealed, effective July 1, 2026.
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