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Senate advances mental‑health crisis treatment pilot to House
Summary
Senate Bill 89, a pilot to help people stabilized in crisis but lacking immediate treatment options access care through the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health and the University of Utah Neuropsychiatric Institute, passed the Senate 25–0–4.
Senators unanimously advanced a mental‑health services pilot intended to connect people stabilized in crisis to treatment services even when insurance or Medicaid coverage is lacking.
Sponsor Senator Thatcher called SB 89 ‘‘the most important bill that I'm carrying this year,’’ describing a gap in post‑crisis care that leaves "3 to 5 people per day" without services and at risk of hospitalization or worse. The bill would authorize a pilot program administered by the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health and contracted through the University of Utah Neuropsychiatric Institute to provide access to treatment for those most in need.
Sponsor gave a brief presentation on the program’s purpose and scope and indicated readiness to take questions; no substantive floor questions were posed during the record. Senator Thatcher waived further summation and moved second substitute SB 89 for passage. The Senate recorded a vote of 25 yeas, 0 nays and 4 absent; the bill will be sent to the House for consideration.
Supporters emphasized the bill’s focus on reducing gaps in crisis‑to‑treatment continuity and preventing deaths and repeated hospitalizations among people in severe behavioral‑health crisis.
