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Senate approves bill creating certified behavioral emergency response technicians
Summary
The Utah Senate passed SB53 to authorize new behavioral emergency services certifications for EMS responders, aiming to expand crisis response statewide. Sponsors said the program supplements mobile crisis outreach teams; senators asked about licensure expansion, training scope and implementation logistics.
Senators on Monday passed SB53, a bill that creates two new certifications — behavioral emergency services technician and advanced behavioral emergency services technician — to expand the pool of responders trained to handle behavioral-health crises.
Sponsor Sen. Thatcher said the proposal will allow the state’s emergency medical services workforce to provide a tiered behavioral-health response statewide, supplementing existing mobile crisis outreach teams (MCOT) rather than replacing them. “This is one of the most important bills I’ve ever carried,” Thatcher said, adding that the Department of Emergency Medical Services will certify the curriculum rather than develop it.
Supporters told colleagues the new certification is intended to increase capacity where specialized MCOT teams are not available. Sen. Escamilla said the training “will allow that to be implemented across the state.” Opponents and questioners focused on whether the measure creates new licensure burdens and how it would interact with existing EMT training. Sen. Cullimore asked whether the bill expands licensing; Thatcher replied that it does create a separate, stand-alone certification because folding all behavioral training into existing EMT programs would dramatically increase training time and cost.
Sen. Thatcher and his backers said the bill was developed with input from the statewide Scribe Response Commission and from behavioral-health and EMS experts. The sponsor said many current EMTs, particularly in volunteer areas, would pursue the additional certification, but the bill does not require all EMTs to obtain it.
The Senate debated and ultimately approved the measure in roll-call action. The transcript records procedural confusion and a recall of the initial vote before the outcome was finalized; the transcript contains inconsistent numeric vote text for the final tally. The bill will move to the House for consideration.
The next step: the House will receive SB53 for its consideration; implementation details — including curriculum development, certification timelines, and funding for additional training — will be worked out in the agencies and committees that handle EMS certification and behavioral-health services.
