Senate committee advances 'Daniel's Law' to create statewide crisis-response council

The Senate Mental Health Committee advanced S.3670 on March 5, 2025, a bill to establish a statewide Emergency and Crisis Response Council to plan and support emergency and crisis response services for people experiencing mental health, alcohol-use or substance-use crises.

Committee Chairwoman Senator Sommerbrook opened discussion by framing the bill as a follow-up to a task force report. "The Daniel's Law Task Force came out with their report a year in advance, which never happens in state government, a year in advance of their deadline, and has really given us a road map for how we can fund this, how we can phase it in," she said.

The nut graf: Committee members discussed how the council would help expand nonpolice crisis responses statewide, the need to fund local programs in the budget and whether law enforcement should be explicitly involved for safety and de-escalation.

Senator Byno and others praised the measure as a potential "game changer" for people in crisis. Several members focused on safety for crisis-response personnel. Senator Fernandez asked whether law enforcement would be part of the council "because my concern is for the safety of the social workers and the people that are on the crisis response team." Chairwoman Sommerbrook responded that law enforcement participation was part of the task force process and that the bill includes a clause allowing law enforcement to respond or lead when weapons are involved. "When there are weapons involved, there is... a clause in here for law enforcement to be part of that coresponse or to lead," she said.

Supporters noted existing local programs and the potential for state funding to help retain crisis-team staff. "One of our challenges in Nassau County is funding the crisis team at a level where we can retain folks," said Senator Goldbaum, who described a Nassau County alternative-response model that coordinates 911, police and crisis teams.

After discussion the committee voted by voice vote to move the bill to the finance committee. Chairwoman Sommerbrook made the motion to move the bill; Senator Goldbaum seconded. The committee recorded the bill as reported to finance.

The bill sponsors and task force emphasized the goal of triaging crises so that nonviolent incidents are handled by trained crisis teams rather than by armed law enforcement whenever appropriate. The task force held statewide hearings, virtual sessions and reviewed models from other jurisdictions, including programs in Canada, to help draft implementation guidance and funding recommendations.

No roll-call vote tally was recorded in the committee transcript; the action was taken by voice vote and the clerk recorded the motion as reported to finance.