State funds and new programs aim to expand crisis care, domestic-violence response in region

Representative Davis told the Mountlake Terrace State of the City audience that behavioral health and crisis response were priorities in the recent legislative session and that the state secured funding to support new facilities and programs.

"We are trying to kick the doors open for our Lynnwood Scribe Care Center, which will be a crisis receiving facility for adults to walk in and receive care," Representative Davis said, describing a facility intended as an alternative to jail or an emergency department for people in crisis. She said the Legislature secured $15,700,000 for such facilities and that an RFP to select an operator had been issued after a prior provider withdrew.

Davis also described a new state program to fund "domestic violence corresponders," in which an advocate — rather than a clinician — is dispatched after law enforcement deems a scene safe. "It'll generate about $4,200,000 per year," she said, and noted the program is funded by a fee increase on marriage licenses she helped expand.

Davis urged local officials to consider technology and privacy protections carefully when evaluating tools such as license-plate cameras; she noted rapid results after Everett implemented such cameras but also emphasized privacy safeguards.

No specific Mountlake Terrace ordinance or local contract was approved at the event. Representative Davis said the Lynnwood facility remained in procurement (an RFP had been issued) and that state funding had been secured; she described the new domestic-violence correspondent program as a state-level creation with annual funding.