HB 597 - AS INTRODUCED
2025 SESSION
25-0827
05/11
HOUSE BILL 597
AN ACT establishing a designated behavioral health access point within the enhanced 911 system.
SPONSORS: Rep. B. Boyd, Hills. 12; Rep. Miles, Hills. 12; Rep. Petrigno, Hills. 43; Rep. Presa, Hills. 12; Rep. Rhodes, Ches. 17; Rep. Wheeler, Hills. 33; Rep. N. Murphy, Hills. 12; Sen. Avard, Dist 12; Sen. Birdsell, Dist 19; Sen. Long, Dist 20; Sen. McGough, Dist 11; Sen. Prentiss, Dist 5
COMMITTEE: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
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ANALYSIS
This bill defines the designated behavioral health access point within the enhanced 911 system to enable the division of emergency services and communications to transfer 911 calls from individuals experiencing non-emergent behavioral health crises and mental health needs to appropriate service providers.
The bill is a request of the department of safety, division of emergency services and communications.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
25-0827
05/11
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Five
AN ACT establishing a designated behavioral health access point within the enhanced 911 system.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Enhanced 911 System; Public Safety Answering Point. Amend RSA 106-H:2, XII to read as follows:
XII. "Public safety answering point" means a facility with enhanced 911 capability, operated on a 24-hour basis, assigned the responsibility of receiving 911 calls and transferring or relaying emergency 911 calls to other public safety agencies or private safety agencies, and transferring or relaying non-emergent 911 calls to the designated behavioral health access point.
2 Definition of Designated Behavioral Health Access Point. Amend RSA 106-H:2, V-a to read as follows:
V-a. “Designated behavioral health access point” means the centralized crisis operations center, designated by the state, that acts as a statewide point of entry for individuals experiencing a non-emergent behavioral health crisis, including but not limited to mental health crises, suicidal thoughts, substance use disorder crises, or emotional crises.
V-b. "Division" means the division of emergency services and communications of the department of safety.
3 Relay Routing. Amend RSA 106-H:2, XIII to read as follows:
XIII. "Relay routing" means the method of responding to a telephone request [for emergency service] whereby a public safety answering point notes pertinent information and relays [it] requests for emergency services by telephone to the appropriate public safety agency or private safety agency for dispatch of an emergency service unit and relays requests for non-emergency services by telephone to the designated behavioral health access point.
4 Transfer Routing. Amend RSA 106-H:2, XIV to read as follows:
XIV. "Transfer routing" means the method of responding to a telephone request for [emergency service] whereby a public safety answering point transfers the call directly to the appropriate public safety agency or private safety agency for dispatch of an emergency service unit and transfers requests for non-emergency services to the designated behavioral health access point.
5 New Subparagraph; Information Not Subject to Right-to-Know Law; Information from the Designated Behavioral Health Access Point. Amend RSA 106-H:14, II by inserting after subparagraph (c) the following new subparagraph:
(d) The department may provide the following information from the designated behavioral health access point:
(1) All pertinent information obtained from a caller to the enhanced 911 system who is determined to be in non-emergent behavioral health crisis, when the department transfers the call to the designated behavioral health access point for non-emergent services for behavioral health crises; and pertinent information provided by the designated behavioral health access point to community mental health centers as provided in RSA 135-C and to emergency services agencies.
(2) For calls for emergency services placed by the designated behavioral health access point to the enhanced 911 system regarding individuals at imminent risk for suicide, homicide, or other crises, the contact information of the emergency services agency to which the public safety answering point transferred the call.
(3) For monitoring trends and quality assurance purposes only, all pertinent information from a sample of calls to the enhanced 911 system transferred to the designated behavioral health access point pursuant to subparagraph (1), as well as statistics regarding the number of calls transferred to the behavioral health access point.
6 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
| Date | Body | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Feb. 12, 2025 | House | Hearing |
| March 14, 2025 | House | Exec Session |
| March 19, 2025 | House | Exec Session |
March 10, 2025: Executive Session: 03/19/2025 10:00 am LOB 202-204
March 6, 2025: ==CANCELLED== Executive Session: 03/14/2025 10:00 am LOB 202-204
Feb. 7, 2025: Public Hearing: 02/12/2025 10:00 am LOB 202-204
Jan. 29, 2025: ==CANCELLED== Public Hearing: 02/06/2025 10:00 am LOB 202-204
Jan. 16, 2025: Introduced (in recess of) 01/09/2025 and referred to Criminal Justice and Public Safety HJ 3 P. 18