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First Link warns 988 call rollovers are rising and threatens local referral capacity
Summary
First Link told the committee that staffing shortfalls are causing 988 calls to roll to out-of-state backup centers (3,080 rollovers in 2024) and projected further increases; the group warned rollovers lengthen hold times, reduce local referrals and can lead to more 911 dispatches.
Jennifer Illick, Executive Director of First Link, told the Legislative Information Technology Committee that First Link is the state's designated 988 and 211 answering hub and coordinates statewide mobile crisis responses. She said the system is seeing rising demand and capacity pressures: "in 2024 alone, 3,080 people in North Dakota that dial 988... bounced over to a backup center" and projected that number could reach about 4,500 by 2026 if staffing does not increase.
Illick explained the operational impact when calls roll to out-of-state backup centers: callers often face much longer hold times—she reported tests of 25 minutes or more—and backup centers do not have the local context to deploy regional mobile crisis teams or make warm handoffs to local services. "When it goes to the backup center, they're calling 911 every time," she said, adding that First Link historically calls 911 on fewer than 100 of its calls because it can triage and dispatch mobile crisis teams locally.
Committee members asked about recent legislative funding and funding sources. Grant Gator confirmed the $2 million provided in the 2025 session was from the Community Health Trust Fund, which receives significant transfers from the Tobacco Settlement Fund. Illick noted prior proposals for a dedicated fee (phone surcharge or cigarette-tax revenue) had not passed and urged the committee to consider sustainable funding to prevent continued rollovers to backup centers.
The committee asked staff to provide an analysis of the Community Health Trust Fund balance and other potential revenue mechanisms to support a sustainable 988/211 and mobile crisis model.
