THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2736
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO CRISIS OUTREACH PROGRAMS.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) is a promising model of responding to crises involving mental illness, homelessness, and addiction. CAHOOTS was developed by the city of Eugene, Oregon in 1989 to address crisis situations where a social service response is more appropriate than a law enforcement response. The CAHOOTS model uses teams of two, composed of a crisis intervention worker and a medic who is either a nurse or an emergency medical technician, and who are trained in de‑escalation and crisis intervention methods.

According to Eugene's CAHOOTS program, in 2019 it handled more than twenty-four thousand calls, representing seventeen per cent of the calls dispatched by 911, and needed to call for police backup two hundred and fifty times. Annually, the program is estimated to save $8.5 million for public safety spending and $14 million on emergency medical costs, including ambulance transport and emergency room services. The three main types of calls that are diverted to CAHOOTS are for welfare checks (32.5 per cent of all CAHOOTS calls), public assistance (66.3 per cent), and transportation to services (34.8 per cent), with some calls requiring more than one type of assistance.

The legislature further finds that a number of cities are exploring ways to implement a program modeled after CAHOOTS. In Hawaii, such a crisis program could be connected to existing crisis phone lines and the forthcoming national suicide prevention lifeline. The publicity campaign in support of the national 988 suicide lifeline is anticipated to increase crisis calls by thirty per cent.

Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to the adult mental health division of the department of health to support a statewide CAHOOTS-like crisis outreach program.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $           or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2022-2023 for a statewide crisis outreach program.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of health adult mental health division for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on January 1, 2050.

Report Title:

Crisis Outreach Program; Department of Health; Appropriation

Description:

Appropriates funds to the Department of Health for a statewide crisis outreach program. Effective 1/1/2050. (SD1)

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