Requires Commissioner of Human Services to establish 24-hour, toll-free Mental Illness Resource Hotline and develop hotline connection system to ensure that callers are connected to other appropriate hotlines when needed.
This bill requires New Jersey's Commissioner of Human Services to create a 24-hour, toll-free Mental Illness Resource Hotline for individuals seeking help with non-emergency mental health issues or crises. The hotline will be staffed by licensed professionals trained to connect callers with appropriate state and local services, resources, and healthcare providers, with a focus on regional availability and multilingual support in English and Spanish. If a caller indicates potential suicide risk, staff will immediately transfer them to the New Jersey Suicide Prevention Hopeline using a warm hand-off method that keeps the caller connected throughout the transfer. The bill also mandates a public awareness campaign targeting children and young adults, requires department websites to display the hotline number, and ensures the hotline operates separately from existing social services and mental health hotlines.
Bill status
in committee
1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Mar 2026
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Mar 16, 2026
Last action Mar 16, 2026
Floor votes
How they voted
No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
1
Key actions
0
Committee
0
Mar 16, 2026
Introduced
Introduced, Referred to Assembly Aging and Human Services Committee
lower
1 primary · 2 co-sponsors
Sponsors
Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Shanique Speight
DDemocratic
Co
Carmen Morales
DDemocratic
Co
Sterley Stanley
DDemocratic
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