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House sponsor presents Mobile Crisis Outreach Team Act, seeks certification and statewide expansion
Summary
Representative Eliason presented the Utah Mobile Crisis Outreach Team Act on the House floor, describing MCOTs as clinician-and-peer teams that respond to mental-health crises and asking the Crisis Line Commission to oversee certification; the bill emerged from the Crisis Line Commission and was reported out of committee with a favorable 11-0-1 vote.
Representative Eliason introduced the Utah Mobile Crisis Outreach Team Act on the House floor, describing Mobile Crisis Outreach Teams (MCOTs) as teams that dispatch a licensed clinical social worker and a peer mentor with lived experience to a person's residence in crisis.
Eliason said MCOTs operate without uniforms or marked cars in pilot areas such as Salt Lake County and provide the public a no-cost, evidence-based alternative to emergency response for mental-health crises. The bill would place MCOT certification under the existing Crisis Line Commission to ensure minimum training and consistency across teams.
Eliason told colleagues the commission is expected to return with recommendations for broader implementation, especially aimed at extending services to rural Utah where the program is currently limited. The bill was reported from the Health and Human Services committee with a vote recorded as 11-0-1.
Next steps: the bill presentation was completed on the floor; subsequent committee and appropriation steps were discussed as implementation planning and certification details will be handled by the Crisis Line Commission if enacted.
Quote: "MCOT is an acronym for Mobile Crisis Outreach Teams...they are the mental health, ambulance equivalent," Representative Eliason said on the floor.
No final floor vote on the bill was recorded in the provided transcript excerpt.
