Law Enforcement Training for Mental Health Crisis Response Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1464 To provide grants to State, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement agencies to obtain behavioral health crisis response training for law enforcement officers. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 14, 2019 Mr. INHOFE (for himself and Mr. BROWN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To provide grants to State, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement agencies to obtain behavioral health crisis response training for law enforcement officers. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Law Enforcement 4 Training for Mental Health Crisis Response Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE. 6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:29 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1464.IS S1464 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1464 IS (1) Law enforcement officers routinely respond 1 to emergencies involving individuals suffering from a 2 mental health crisis. 3 (2) Recent statistics have shown that as many 4 as— 5 (A) 1 in every 10 calls for police response 6 involve a person suffering from a mental illness; 7 (B) 1 in every 4 people killed by police suf- 8 fer from a mental health problem; and 9 (C) 1 in 3 people transported to a hospital 10 emergency room for psychiatric reasons are 11 taken by the police. 12 (3) Law enforcement response calls to individ- 13 uals suffering from substance use disorder have in- 14 creased during the current opioid epidemic. 15 (4) There is a need to ensure that law enforce- 16 ment officers have access to proper evidence-based 17 training in responding to mental health crises. 18 (5) Proper training for response to individuals 19 suffering from a mental health crisis can better pro- 20 tect the safety of the general public and law enforce- 21 ment officers. 22 (6) Law enforcement officers in the United 23 States can better serve their communities if the law 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:29 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1464.IS S1464 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1464 IS enforcement officers receive training to effectively 1 and safely resolve the mental health crises. 2 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide 3 grants to State, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies 4 to obtain behavioral health crisis response training for law 5 enforcement officers to— 6 (1) better train law enforcement officers to re- 7 solve behavioral health crisis situations; 8 (2) reduce the number of law enforcement offi- 9 cers killed or injured while responding to a behav- 10 ioral health crisis; and 11 (3) reduce the number of individuals killed or 12 injured during a behavioral health crisis in which a 13 law enforcement officer responds. 14 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 15 In this Act: 16 (1) APPLICANT.—The term ‘‘applicant’’ means 17 a law enforcement agency that applies for a grant 18 under section 4. 19 (2) ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Attorney 20 General’’ means the Attorney General, acting 21 through the Assistant Attorney General for the Of- 22 fice of Justice Programs. 23 (3) CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.—The 24 term ‘‘chief law enforcement officer’’ has the mean- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:29 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1464.IS S1464 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1464 IS ing given the term in section 922(s) of title 18, 1 United States Code. 2 (4) GRANT FUNDS.—The term ‘‘grant funds’’ 3 means funds from a grant awarded under section 4. 4 (5) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 5 has the meaning given the term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ in 6 section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu- 7 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 8 (6) LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY.—The term 9 ‘‘law enforcement agency’’ means an agency of a 10 State, unit of local government, or Indian Tribe that 11 is authorized by law or by a government agency to 12 engage in or supervise the prevention, detection, in- 13 vestigation, or prosecution of any violation of crimi- 14 nal law. 15 (7) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means a 16 program or class that— 17 (A) provides instructional training to law 18 enforcement officers for response to a behav- 19 ioral health crisis, including response to people 20 suspected to be under the influence of a drug 21 or psychoactive substance, and response to cir- 22 cumstances in which a person is suspected to be 23 suicidal or suffering from a mental illness; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:29 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1464.IS S1464 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1464 IS (B) includes training on techniques and 1 strategies designed to protect the health and 2 safety of law enforcement officers and the pub- 3 lic, including the person or persons a law en- 4 forcement officer encounters during a behav- 5 ioral health crisis response. 6 (8) RECIPIENT.—The term ‘‘recipient’’ means 7 an applicant that receives a grant under section 4. 8 (9) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean- 9 ing given the term in section 901 of title I of the 10 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 11 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10251). 12 SEC. 4. GRANTS. 13 (a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Attorney General 14 shall award grants to applicants for— 15 (1) law enforcement officers to receive training 16 from behavioral health crisis response program; and 17 (2) the cost of transportation and lodging asso- 18 ciated with law enforcement officers attending pro- 19 gram. 20 (b) PROGRAM STANDARDS.—The Attorney General 21 shall establish and publish qualification standards for or- 22 ganizations that provide behavioral health crisis response 23 programs. 24 (c) APPLICATIONS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:29 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1464.IS S1464 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 1464 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—The chief law enforcement 1 officer of an applicant shall submit to the Attorney 2 General an application that— 3 (A) shall include— 4 (i) a statement describing the pro- 5 gram the law enforcement officers will 6 complete; 7 (ii) the total number of law enforce- 8 ment officers in the agency; 9 (iii) the number of law enforcement 10 officers of the agency that have been killed, 11 or seriously injured while responding to a 12 behavioral health crisis during the 5-year- 13 period preceding the date of the applica- 14 tion; and 15 (iv) whether the law enforcement offi- 16 cers employed by the agency receive any 17 behavioral health crisis response training, 18 including during basic police officer train- 19 ing; and 20 (B) in addition to the information required 21 under subparagraph (A), may, at the option of 22 the applicant, include information relating to— 23 (i) recent incidents involving law en- 24 forcement officers of the agency in which 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:29 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1464.IS S1464 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 1464 IS behavioral health crisis response training 1 could have played a role in protecting the 2 safety of the law enforcement officer or the 3 public, including the persons or persons 4 the law enforcement officers encountered; 5 and 6 (ii) estimated cost of attendance of a 7 program per law enforcement officer. 8 (d) RESTRICTIONS.— 9 (1) SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDS.—Grant funds shall 10 be used to supplement, and not supplant, State, 11 local, and tribal funds made available to any appli- 12 cant for any of the purposes described in subsection 13 (a). 14 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Not more than 3 15 percent of any grant made under this section may 16 be used for administrative costs. 17 (e) REPORTS AND RECORDS.— 18 (1) REPORTS.—For each year during which 19 grant funds are used, the recipient shall submit to 20 the Attorney General a report containing— 21 (A) a summary of any activity carried out 22 using grant funds; 23 (B) the number of officers that received 24 training using grant funds; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:29 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1464.IS S1464 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 1464 IS (C) any other information relevant to the 1 purpose of this Act that the Attorney General 2 may determine appropriate. 3 (2) RECORDS.—For the purpose of an audit by 4 the Attorney General of the receipt and use of grant 5 funds, a recipient shall— 6 (A) keep— 7 (i) any record relating to the receipt 8 and use of grant funds; and 9 (ii) any other record as the Attorney 10 General may require; and 11 (B) make the records described in subpara- 12 graph (A) available to the Attorney General 13 upon request by the Attorney General. 14 SEC. 5. USE OF APPROPRIATED FUNDS. 15 Of the total amount appropriated to carry out the 16 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant under 17 subpart 1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime Con- 18 trol and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10151 et 19 seq.) for each of fiscal years 2020, 2021, and 2022, 20 $5,000,000 shall be used to carry out this Act for each 21 such fiscal year. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:29 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1464.IS S1464 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS