Bi-partisan legislation to improve mental health emergency response programs is heading to the state House of Representatives.
The pair of bills would create a “Jail Diversion Fund” and community crisis response grant program to help communities coordinate their law enforcement effort with local behavioral health services.
Co-sponsor Democratic state Senator Stephanie Chang says the effort has broad support.
“Everyone knows that we’ve got a behavioral health crisis in Michigan and there’s a lot more that we need to do. And this is one of those commonsense things we can do right away—put our state dollars to work.”
The Department of Health and Human Services budget for Fiscal Year 22 sets aside 5-million-dollars for the proposed Jail Diversion Fund.
The bills head to the House after unanimous votes in the Senate.