HB1131

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1131
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO AN INTENSIVE MOBILE TEAM PILOT PROGRAM FOR HOUSELESS INDIVIDUALS SUFFERING FROM SERIOUS BRAIN DISORDERS.

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

SECTION 1. (a) There is established an intensive mobile team pilot program within the adult mental health division of the department of health to provide intensive mobile team services, e.g., "street psychiatry," to chronically houseless people suffering from serious brain disorders, including but not limited to schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.

(b) The pilot program shall establish one intensive mobile team in the community mental health center system.

(1) Establish criteria for pilot program participation, which shall include being houseless and suffering from a serious brain disorder, prioritizing individuals with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder;

(2) Manage no more than forty participants who shall be vetted and enrolled by the intensive mobile team;

(3) Offer after-hours availability for existing participants to:

(A) Respond to crisis;

(B) Visit emergency rooms; and

(C) If and when they are arrested, meet with law enforcement and participants at the receiving desk or similar place where the participant is being held in custody to share information on their participation in the pilot program;

(4) Determine, in collaboration with area hospitals and the behavioral health crisis center, appropriate hospitalizations and behavioral health crisis center admissions;

(5) Prioritize housing placements for participants;

(6) Begin participant treatment on psychiatric medications when appropriate;

(7) Actively pursue assisted community treatment orders when appropriate;

(8) Continue services if a participant is admitted to the Hawaii state hospital;

(9) Engage social work interns and advanced practice registered nurse students to expand service capacity for the target population;

(10) Bill third-party payors, medicare, or medicaid, as appropriate for services; and

(11) Be staffed as follows:

(A) 1.0 FTE human services professional V who shall serve as the clinical supervisor;

(B) 0.5 FTE psychiatrist;

(D) 0.5 FTE registered nurse;

(E) 0.1 FTE epidemiologist, epidemiology specialist, or research statistician; and

(F) 1.0 FTE program specialist.

(d) The department of health shall collaborate with law enforcement agencies, courts, hospitals, providers who serve houseless individuals, mental health providers, and community stakeholders for the implementation of the pilot program.

(e) The adult mental health division of the department of health shall submit a report on the intensive mobile team pilot program to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular sessions of 2026 and 2027. Each report shall include any proposed legislation and progress updates on the aggregate:

(1) Number of participant arrests;

(2) Number of participants requiring an emergency examination and hospitalization;

(3) Number of participants placed into housing;

(4) Number of participants started on medications;

(5) Number of participants hospitalized at the Hawaii state hospital;

(6) Number of participants reconnected with family; and

(7) Number of assisted community treatment orders pursued and granted.

(f) The intensive mobile team pilot program shall be dissolved on June 30, 2028.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $1,300,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2025-2026 and the sum of $1,300,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2026-2027 for eight and one-tenth full-time equivalent (8.1 FTE) positions, who shall be exempt from chapter 76, Hawaii Revised Statutes, operating costs, and equipment, pursuant to this Act.

The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of health for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 3. This Act, upon its approval, shall take effect on July 1, 2025.

INTRODUCED BY:

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BY REQUEST