Sponsors (11)
The bill expands federally funded, standardized behavioral-health crisis training to improve safety and accountability in police and corrections responses, but it redirects limited criminal-justice funds toward training and imposes administrative and fiscal constraints that may limit access and fail to resolve deeper use-of-force and systemic issues.
Law-enforcement and corrections officers nationwide will receive evidence-based behavioral-health crisis training, improving how crises are de-escalated and likely reducing injuries and deaths for people experiencing mental-health or substance-use crises.
Federal grants and covered travel/lodging reduce local, state, and Tribal budget barriers to officers attending this training, increasing participation by smaller and under-resourced agencies.
The bill establishes standardized qualification standards and reporting for the training, promoting consistent quality and accountability in use of federal funds.
Up to $10 million per year may be redirected from Byrne/JAG funds to this program, reducing funds available for other criminal-justice priorities and alternative, non-police crisis responses (like mobile crisis teams).
Training by itself may not address systemic causes of use-of-force, so racial and ethnic minorities and people with disabilities could remain exposed to harmful or disproportionate policing outcomes despite training.
Tribal, rural, and other small or under-resourced agencies may face administrative burdens (grant applications, audits, annual reporting) that limit access to funds or divert local staff time from other duties.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Creates a Byrne JAG grant program to fund behavioral-health crisis response training for state, local, and Tribal law enforcement and corrections officers, with up to $10M/year reserved.
Introduced March 31, 2025 by Marcia Carolyn Kaptur · Last progress March 31, 2025
Creates a new grant program under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne JAG) framework to pay for behavioral-health crisis response training for state, local, and Tribal law enforcement and corrections officers, including travel and lodging. The Attorney General may reserve up to $10 million per fiscal year from existing Byrne JAG funds to run the program; grants have a 3% cap on administrative costs, must supplement (not supplant) other funding, and require annual reporting and record retention for audits.