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An Act To Enhance Maine's Coordinated Response to Mental Health Crises
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  34-B MRSA c. 3, sub-c. 3, art. 3  is enacted to read:
ARTICLE 3
CRISIS INTERVENTION COORDINATION
§ 3641. Crisis intervention coordination
The department shall provide assistance to crisis intervention teams, agencies and law enforcement agencies to enable them to coordinate crisis intervention services and to fulfill the terms of the memorandum of understanding required under subsection 2.
 
1.  Definitions.     As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings.
 
A.  "Agency" means a person, firm, association or corporation that provides mental health services through one or more contracts with the department for the purposes of providing crisis services, but does not include the individual or corporate professional practice of one or more psychologists or psychiatrists.
 
B.  "Crisis intervention team" means a crisis intervention team established under section 3622.
 
C.  "Law enforcement agency" means the State Police, a sheriff's department or a municipal police department.
 
D.  "Law enforcement officer" means a person who by virtue of public employment is vested by law with the power to make arrests for crime or serve criminal process.
 
E.  "Person in need of mental health crisis services" means a person who appears to a law enforcement officer to be experiencing a mental health crisis or to have an untreated mental illness that compromises the ability of the person to function safely in the community.
 
2.  Memorandum of understanding.     By July 1, 2018, a crisis intervention team or agency shall enter into and sign a memorandum of understanding with each law enforcement agency that provides law enforcement services in the area of the State served by the crisis intervention team or agency. The memorandum of understanding must be effective for 3 years and must be renewed every 3 years. The memorandum of understanding must include the following:
 
A.  A description of the process that the law enforcement agency uses to identify a person in need of mental health crisis services with whom the law enforcement officer has contact in the course of performing official duties, regardless of the custodial standing of the person;
 
B.  A description of the protocol that the law enforcement agency uses, within 24 hours of contact with a person in need of mental health crisis services, to share a contact report with a crisis intervention team or agency;
 
C.  A description of the process the crisis intervention team or agency uses to receive the contact report provided under paragraph B;
 
D.  A description of the protocol the crisis intervention team or agency uses to communicate with the person in need of mental health crisis services or the guardian or family members of that person; and
 
E.  A description of the procedures that will be used to convene on a quarterly basis multidisciplinary team meetings between the crisis intervention team or agency and the law enforcement agency to review the experiences of the parties to the memorandum of understanding and to discuss opportunities for improvement in the provision of services to persons in need of mental health crisis services.
 
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to provide assistance to crisis intervention teams and agencies that provide mental health crisis services and to law enforcement agencies to enable them to coordinate mental health crisis services. The bill sets July 1, 2018 as the date by which a crisis intervention team or agency must enter into and sign a memorandum of understanding with each law enforcement agency that provides law enforcement services in the area of the State served by the crisis intervention team or agency. The bill requires the memorandum of understanding to be effective for 3 years and to be renewed every 3 years. The memorandum of understanding must include descriptions of the following: the internal processes the law enforcement agency uses to identify a person in need of mental health crisis services; the protocol the law enforcement agency uses to share a contact report with a crisis intervention team or agency; the process the crisis intervention team or agency uses to receive the report; the protocol the crisis intervention team or agency uses to communicate with a person in need of mental health services or the guardian or family members of that person; and the procedures to be used to convene on a quarterly basis multidisciplinary team meetings to review experiences and discuss opportunities for improvement.