HB1321ham001 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Rep. Lindsey LaPointe

Filed: 4/4/2022

10200HB1321ham001 LRB102 03336 AWJ 38566 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 1321

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 1321 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the First Responder Mental Health Grant Program Act.

Section 5. Legislative intent.

(a) The General Assembly recognizes the difficult nature of the job of first responder, including trauma endured by first responders in the performance of their duties.

(b) It is the intent of the General Assembly to ensure that first responders, including police, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and public safety telecommunicators across this State have full access to supportive and responsive behavioral health services and treatment.

(c) The General Assembly recognizes that these services should be responsive to the individual's needs and must be kept confidential.

(d) The General Assembly recognizes that the administration and provision of these services both recognize and reduce the historical barrier of stigma and a lack of confidentiality that first responders face when attempting to access behavioral health services and treatment.

Section 10. Definitions. In this Act:

"Behavioral health" means mental health, health relating to substance use, or both.

"Behavioral health care" means services, treatment, medication, and other measures to overcome, mitigate, or prevent a behavioral health issue. These services, treatment, medication, and other measures qualify as "behavioral health care" even if there is no formal diagnosis of a specific condition.

"Department" means the Department of Human Services.

"First responder" means a law enforcement officer, firefighter, emergency medical services personnel as defined in Section 3.5 of the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Systems Act, or public safety telecommunicator as defined in Section 2 of the Emergency Telephone Systems Act.

"Record" means any record kept by a therapist or by an agency in the course of providing behavioral health care to a first responder concerning the first responder and the services provided. "Record" includes the personal notes of the therapist or agency. "Record" includes all records maintained by a court that have been created in connection with, in preparation for, or as a result of the filing of any petition or certificate under Chapter II, Chapter III, or Chapter IV of the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code and includes the petitions, certificates, dispositional reports, treatment plans, and reports of diagnostic evaluations and of hearings under Article VIII of Chapter III or under Article V of Chapter IV of that Code. "Record" does not include information that has been de-identified in accordance with HIPAA, as specified in 45 CFR 164.514. "Record" does not include a reference to the receipt of behavioral health care noted during a patient history and physical or other summary of care.

Section 15. First Responder Behavioral Health Grant Program.

(a) Subject to appropriation, there is created within the Department of Human Services a First Responder Behavioral Health Grant Program to provide grants to the following recipients:

(1) units of local government;

(2) law enforcement agencies;

(3) fire protection districts;

(4) school districts;

(5) public or private hospitals; or

(6) ambulance services that employ first responders.

(b) There is created a First Responder Behavioral Health Grant Fund in the State treasury that shall be used by the Secretary of Human Services to make grants to the eligible recipients as provided in subsection (a).

(c) Recipients eligible for grants under this Section shall use the grants for expenses related to behavioral health care services for first responders, including, but not limited to, telehealth services. An employer may not reduce behavioral health care provided through a first responder's employee benefit package as a result of the receipt of grant funds under this Act.

(d) All records, notes, and conclusions by a treatment provider providing behavioral health care to first responders whose employers receive grants under this Act shall not be shared with the employer unless otherwise mandated by law.

(e) Applicants seeking grants under this Act shall apply to the Department in a form and manner prescribed by the Department.

(f) The Department may adopt any rules necessary to implement this Act.

Section 80. The Illinois Police Training Act is amended by changing Section 6 and adding Section 6.8 as follows:

(50 ILCS 705/6) (from Ch. 85, par. 506)

Sec. 6. Powers and duties of the Board; selection and certification of schools. The Board shall select and certify schools within the State of Illinois for the purpose of providing basic training for probationary law enforcement officers, probationary county corrections officers, and court security officers and of providing advanced or in-service training for permanent law enforcement officers or permanent county corrections officers, which schools may be either publicly or privately owned and operated. In addition, the Board has the following power and duties:

a. To require law enforcement agencies to furnish such reports and information as the Board deems necessary to fully implement this Act.

b. To establish appropriate mandatory minimum standards relating to the training of probationary local law enforcement officers or probationary county corrections officers, and in-service training of permanent law enforcement officers.

c. To provide appropriate certification to those probationary officers who successfully complete the prescribed minimum standard basic training course.

d. To review and approve annual training curriculum for county sheriffs.

e. To review and approve applicants to ensure that no applicant is admitted to a certified academy unless the applicant is a person of good character and has not been convicted of, found guilty of, entered a plea of guilty to, or entered a plea of nolo contendere to a felony offense, any of the misdemeanors in Sections 11-1.50, 11-6, 11-6.5, 11-6.6, 11-9.1, 11-9.1B, 11-14, 11-14.1, 11-30, 12-2, 12-3.2, 12-3.4, 12-3.5, 16-1, 17-1, 17-2, 26.5-1, 26.5-2, 26.5-3, 28-3, 29-1, any misdemeanor in violation of any Section of Part E of Title III of the Criminal Code of 1961 or the Criminal Code of 2012, or subsection (a) of Section 17-32 of the Criminal Code of 1961 or the Criminal Code of 2012, or Section 5 or 5.2 of the Cannabis Control Act, or a crime involving moral turpitude under the laws of this State or any other state which if committed in this State would be punishable as a felony or a crime of moral turpitude, or any felony or misdemeanor in violation of federal law or the law of any state that is the equivalent of any of the offenses specified therein. The Board may appoint investigators who shall enforce the duties conferred upon the Board by this Act.

For purposes of this paragraph e, a person is considered to have been convicted of, found guilty of, or entered a plea of guilty to, plea of nolo contendere to regardless of whether the adjudication of guilt or sentence is withheld or not entered thereon. This includes sentences of supervision, conditional discharge, or first offender probation, or any similar disposition provided for by law.

f. To establish statewide minimum standards regarding: (1) psychological screenings of recruit officers hired after the standards go into effect and annual psychological screenings of probationary and permanent officers; and (2) regular, confidential mental health counseling for probationary and permanent police officers in addition to the mental health counseling related to an officer's fitness for duty examinations To establish statewide standards for minimum standards regarding regular mental health screenings for probationary and permanent police officers, ensuring that counseling sessions and screenings remain confidential.

g. To review and ensure all law enforcement officers remain in compliance with this Act, and any administrative rules adopted under this Act.

h. To suspend any certificate for a definite period, limit or restrict any certificate, or revoke any certificate.

i. The Board and the Panel shall have power to secure by its subpoena and bring before it any person or entity in this State and to take testimony either orally or by deposition or both with the same fees and mileage and in the same manner as prescribed by law in judicial proceedings in civil cases in circuit courts of this State. The Board and the Panel shall also have the power to subpoena the production of documents, papers, files, books, documents, and records, whether in physical or electronic form, in support of the charges and for defense, and in connection with a hearing or investigation.

j. The Executive Director, the administrative law judge designated by the Executive Director, and each member of the Board and the Panel shall have the power to administer oaths to witnesses at any hearing that the Board is authorized to conduct under this Act and any other oaths required or authorized to be administered by the Board under this Act.

k. In case of the neglect or refusal of any person to obey a subpoena issued by the Board and the Panel, any circuit court, upon application of the Board and the Panel, through the Illinois Attorney General, may order such person to appear before the Board and the Panel give testimony or produce evidence, and any failure to obey such order is punishable by the court as a contempt thereof. This order may be served by personal delivery, by email, or by mail to the address of record or email address of record.

l. The Board shall have the power to administer state certification examinations. Any and all records related to these examinations, including, but not limited to, test questions, test formats, digital files, answer responses, answer keys, and scoring information shall be exempt from disclosure.

(Source: P.A. 101-187, eff. 1-1-20; 101-652, Article 10, Section 10-143, eff. 7-1-21; 101-652, Article 25, Section 25-40, eff. 1-1-22; 102-687, eff. 12-17-21; 102-694, eff. 1-7-22.)

(50 ILCS 705/6.8 new)

Sec. 6.8. Statewide minimum standards; psychological screenings; mental health counseling.

(a) The statewide minimum standards established by the Board under paragraph f of Section 6 relating to psychological screenings and mental health counseling shall require, at a minimum, all of the following:

(1) The standards shall require a law enforcement agency to perform a psychological screening on each recruit officer hired after the standards are in effect. The screening shall include an examination of personality traits that support resilience to the adverse environment in which law enforcement officers respond. The screening protocols shall focus on assessment tools to assess the overall resiliency of officers so as to take a proactive response to the psychological health of the law enforcement community.

(2) The standards shall require a law enforcement agency to conduct a psychological screening of each new recruit officer immediately before and after returning from basic training school. These screenings shall identify the general growth and development of the recruit. If concerns are raised as to the health of the recruit, more specific testing and education on officer resilience shall be recommended.

(3) The standards shall require a law enforcement agency to conduct a psychological screening of each probationary and permanent officer at least once annually, and those screenings shall also be used to evaluate the overall mental health of personnel and employees of the agency. These annual screenings shall be general and brief but allow for more detailed questions to be asked if certain metrics specified by the Board are displayed, such as a majority or substantial number of responses indicating the negative impact of lateral trauma, signs of depression or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or other negative outcomes related to the officer's career.

(4) The standards shall require a law enforcement agency to keep all psychological screenings confidential. Responses to all screening questions shall remain either anonymous or confidential when conducted internally by the employing law enforcement agency. These screenings shall not be used for any fitness or promotional matters. If an anonymous screening of an officer reveals items of serious concern, the law enforcement agency may not attempt to ascertain the identity of the responding officer.

(5) The standards shall require a law enforcement agency to consider partnering with one or more third-party vendors to conduct and follow up on these screenings. Agencies shall also consider partnering with a third-party vendor to provide overall follow up of trends that may be identified by the screening outcomes to improve officer wellness and wellness of the law enforcement agency.

(6) The standards shall require a law enforcement agency to make available critical incident stress management counselors or counseling options to probationary and permanent officers and shall require the law enforcement agency to encourage officers to attend sessions with a critical incident stress management counselor and the law enforcement agency shall ensure that there is not any stigma, negative consequences, or added financial burden for an officer attending critical incident stress counseling sessions, either socially or professionally, to the best of the law enforcement agency's ability.

(b) Records of psychological screenings and mental health counseling sessions, as well as any portions of documents referencing the psychological screenings or mental health counseling sessions that contain a personally identifiable information of an officer who underwent the screening or counseling session, are exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.

Section 90. The State Finance Act is amended by adding Section 5.970 as follows:

(30 ILCS 105/5.970 new)

Sec. 5.970. The First Responder Behavioral Health Grant Fund.".