2023 WISCONSIN ACT 219
An Act relating to: a law enforcement officer virtual behavioral health crisis care pilot program.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:
219,1
Section
1.
Nonstatutory provisions.
(1) Law enforcement officer virtual behavioral health crisis care pilot program.
(a) The department of health services shall establish a pilot program to implement virtual behavioral health crisis care services for use by county or municipal law enforcement agencies in the field to connect law enforcement officers who encounter persons in crisis to behavioral healthcare services.
(b) Within 180 days after the effective date of this paragraph, the department of health services shall obtain and review proposals using its competitive selection process to award contracts to certified county crisis agencies for the purposes of providing virtual behavioral health crisis care services to individuals experiencing a behavioral crisis. Certified county crisis agencies that are awarded grants under this subsection may contract with their local law enforcement jurisdictions to provide telehealth equipment and develop virtual behavioral health care. Grants awarded under the competitive selection process may include remote access via 2-way audio/video communication, and grant awardees may contract for services with a private entity for the purposes of training, equipment, or decision-making support. No grant may be awarded under this paragraph unless the certified county crisis agency who will receive the grant certifies to the department of health services that grant funding will pay no more than 75 percent of the cost of providing virtual behavioral health crisis care services.
(c) Any certified county crisis agency that is eligible to provide crisis services may apply for a grant under the competitive selection process under par. (b). When awarding grants under par. (b), the department of health services may award no more than 50 percent of the program resources for the program under par. (a) to certified county crisis agencies who serve a population of more than 50,000, and no more than 10 percent of the program resources may be allocated to a single certified county crisis agency.
(d) The department of health services shall collect all of the following information as of March 31, 2025, for the pilot program under par. (a), and report it to the joint committee on finance by May 1, 2025:
1. For each participating county or municipality, how much money was received under the pilot program and how much money was contributed by the county or municipality.
2. Which counties and municipalities participated in the program.
3. The number of law enforcement officers that were equipped with the services provided under the program.
4. The number of incidents in which the services provided under the program were utilized.
5. Of the incidents in which the services provided under the program were utilized, the number that were predicted to otherwise have resulted in an involuntary commitment.
6. Of the incidents in which the services provided under the program were utilized, the number that ended with the person in crisis remaining in place rather than requiring some kind of transport.
7. An estimate of how many working hours were saved by utilizing the services provided under the program.
