Sponsors (10)
The bill increases transparency and enables evidence-based reforms to reduce harmful law enforcement encounters with people with mental illness through standardized data collection and HHS-guided reporting, while creating privacy risks for vulnerable individuals and added compliance costs for agencies.
People with mental illness and public health agencies: standardized, de-identified data collection (with HHS/SAMHSA guidance) will identify patterns in police interactions and support evidence-based reforms to reduce harmful encounters.
Researchers, policymakers, and the public: annual public summaries and access to standardized data improve transparency and oversight of law enforcement practices and inform policy changes at local and national levels.
People with mental illness and victims: collecting sensitive interaction records risks re-identification and privacy harms despite de-identification limits.
Law enforcement agencies and local governments: standardized data collection and reporting will create compliance costs and administrative burden for agencies required to collect and submit the data.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires the Attorney General, with HHS, to collect annual data on law enforcement interactions with people with mental illness, publish anonymized summaries, and authorizes funding for FY2026–FY2036.
Requires the Attorney General, working with the Department of Health and Human Services (including SAMHSA), to collect yearly data on law enforcement interactions with people who have mental illness, create data-collection guidelines, and publish annual, anonymized summaries to Congress. It limits data use to research or statistics, bars inclusion of information that could identify crime victims, defines "mental illness" by cross-reference to an existing federal definition, and authorizes funding for FY2026–FY2036.
Introduced May 29, 2025 by Wesley Bell · Last progress May 29, 2025