# Mental Health Crisis Response Act of 2025

When someone calls 911 in a mental health crisis—whether they're experiencing severe anxiety, suicidal thoughts, or a substance abuse emergency—police officers typically respond. This bill creates a new federal grant program to help communities try a different approach: sending mental health professionals instead of (or alongside) police to handle these situations.

The bill gives the Attorney General and the federal mental health agency money to award grants to states, cities, and tribal governments that want to build "health-centered" crisis response systems. Communities can use these grants in several practical ways. They could hire mental health professionals to work directly in 911 call centers to help dispatchers identify which calls are mental health emergencies versus actual crimes. They could set up systems where 911 calls automatically route to the 988 mental health crisis line when appropriate, so callers don't have to hang up and dial a different number. Or they could create partnerships between emergency services and mental health providers to smoothly hand off calls without the caller having to do anything. The bill sets aside $25 million per year from 2027 through 2031 for these grants.

The bill is careful to say it doesn't require communities to remove police from emergency responses—that's a local decision. It also protects states' existing laws about involuntary psychiatric holds and emergency powers. Communities that receive grants must report back annually on how long responses take, whether force was used, and how many people were diverted away from the criminal justice system to mental health services instead. Essentially, this bill funds an experiment to see whether having mental health professionals handle certain 911 calls leads to better outcomes than sending police alone.