Mental health awareness response & community understanding serv. (Marcus) alert syst.; establishes. (SB5084)

Introduced By

Sen. Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond) with support from co-patron Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D-Midlothian)

Description

Mental health awareness response and community understanding services (Marcus) alert system. Provides that the Department of Criminal Justice Services and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services shall support the development and establishment of a mental health awareness response and community understanding services (Marcus) alert system in localities and areas throughout the Commonwealth. The bill provides that, by July 1, 2021, every locality shall have established, or be part of an area that has established, a Marcus alert system that uses community care teams. An area can be a combination of one or more localities or institutions of higher education located therein that may have law-enforcement officers. A "community care team" is defined in the bill as a group of mental health service providers working with registered peer recovery specialists and law-enforcement officers as a team, with the mental health service providers leading such team, to help stabilize individuals in crisis situations. A "mental health awareness response and community understanding services (Marcus) alert system" is defined in the bill as a process in which a call for service or other communication to an emergency 911 system or that is communicated with any other equivalent reporting system gets routed for the appropriate services, including calls for service being directed to a community care team. Read the Bill »

Status

08/20/2020: Incorporated into Another Bill

History