1. The Commission shall, subject to the availability of funds appropriated for such a purpose, develop and implement a behavioral health field response grant program for the purpose of allowing law enforcement and behavioral health professionals to safely respond to crises, including, without limitation, by telephone or video, involving persons with behavioral health issues. The Commission may use a portion of the appropriated funds to develop data management capability to support the program. 2. A local law enforcement agency may submit a grant application to the Commission that contains the agencys proposal to develop its behavioral health field response by incorporating behavioral health professionals into its behavioral health field response planning, or two or more local law enforcement agencies may submit a joint grant application that contains their joint proposal. Any proposal submitted by a law enforcement agency must provide a plan for improving behavioral health field response and diversion from incarceration through modifying or expanding law enforcement practices in partnership with behavioral health professionals. The Commission may prioritize grant applications that include total matching funds. 3. The Commission shall appoint a peer review panel to review, in consultation with behavioral health organizations and the Department of Human Services the grant applications submitted by local law enforcement agencies and select the grant recipients. To the extent possible, at least one grant recipient must be from a rural county. To avoid any conflict of interest, any law enforcement agency that is included in a proposal shall recuse itself from voting on the peer review panel. 4. If the Commission certifies that the grant application of a selected recipient satisfies the proposal criteria, the Commission shall distribute grant funds to the selected recipient. The Commission shall make every effort to fund at least three grants each fiscal year. Grant recipients must be selected and receive grant funds not later than October 1 of each year the behavioral health field response grant program is funded. 5. A grant recipient must provide for at least one behavioral health professional who will perform professional services under its plan. Such a behavioral health professional may assist patrolling officers in the field or in an on-call capacity, provide preventive, follow-up training on behavioral health field response best practices or provide other services at the direction of the grant recipient. A grant recipient may coordinate with local public safety answering points to maximize the goals of its plan. 6. Using existing resources, the Commission shall: (a) Consult with the staff of the Office of Analytics of the Department of Human Services to establish data collection and reporting guidelines for grant recipients for the purpose of studying and evaluating whether the use of behavioral health field response programs improves the outcomes of interactions with persons experiencing behavioral health crises, including, without limitation, by reducing rates of violence, arrests and jail or emergency room usage. (b) Consult with the Department of Human Services to develop requirements for participating behavioral health professionals. (c) Coordinate with the Department of Human Services, the Division of Public and Behavioral Health of the Department of Human Services and public safety answering points to develop and incorporate telephone or dispatch protocols to assist with behavioral health, law enforcement and emergency medical responses involving behavioral health situations. 7. On or before December 1 of each year the behavioral health field response grant program is funded, the Commission shall submit to the Governor, the Chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Judiciary and the Chair of the Assembly Standing Committee on Judiciary a report concerning the program which must include, without limitation: (a) Information on and feedback from grant recipients; and (b) Information on the use of grant funds and the participation of behavioral health professionals. 8. A grant recipient shall develop and provide or arrange joint training necessary for both law enforcement and behavioral health professionals to operate successfully and competently in partnership with law enforcement agencies. The training must provide such professionals with working knowledge of law enforcement procedures and tools sufficient to provide for the safety of such professionals. 9. Nothing in this section prohibits the Commission from soliciting or accepting private funds to support the behavioral health field response grant program.
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