This bill establishes a formal definition for school resource officers and mandates specific training for them, focusing on mental health, racial equity, and de-escalation techniques. It requires that any complaint about student delinquency filed by a school resource officer must be signed by a school administrator or social worker before it can be sent to juvenile court. To support these changes, the legislation creates a grant program to help schools cover increased salary costs associated with hiring and training officers, with funding prioritized for rural and lower-grade schools. These new requirements and funding provisions are scheduled to take effect starting in the 2026-2027 school year.
This bill requires the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Information Technology, and the Administrative Office of the Courts to study the state's involuntary commitment process. The agencies must identify gaps in the current system and submit a report with recommendations by February 1, 2027. Key areas for improvement include ensuring judges receive timely clinical data, training legal officials on community-based treatment options, and updating electronic forms to capture consistent data. The legislation also aims to increase data sharing between health and court systems to support more effective legal and clinical outcomes.
This North Carolina bill appropriates approximately $1.3 million from the state's General Fund to the Department of Health and Human Services for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. The funds are designated to expand access to Teen Mental Health First Aid and Youth Mental Health First Aid training programs across the state. These training courses are designed to teach high school students how to recognize signs of mental health and substance use challenges among their peers and connect them with support. The legislation takes effect on July 1, 2026.
SB 674 allows licensed mental health professionals (including clinical counselors, marriage and family therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists) from other states to practice in North Carolina more easily. It requires applicants to have actively practiced for at least two of the past five years, pass background checks, pay fees, and provide a social security number. The bill mandates licensing boards must issue or deny licenses within 60 days of application, streamlining access to mental health services without replacing existing interstate compacts.
SB 585 creates a tuition and registration fee waiver for mental health clinicians and peer support specialists working in municipal or county emergency medical services (EMS), rescue, or lifesaving departments. It specifically applies to professionals embedded in 911 call centers to direct mental health resources or paired with first responders during emergency calls. The bill amends North Carolina's community college tuition waiver rules to add these departments as eligible entities, allowing their employees to take approved community college courses without tuition costs. This policy directly affects local government emergency response teams and their mental health staff, effective July 1, 2025. The waiver covers standard tuition and registration fees for relevant training programs.
HB 710 establishes a three-year pilot program to fund mental health crisis units in North Carolina public schools. It allocates $2 million total (up to $250,000 annually per district) to select up to eight school districts starting in 2025-2026, prioritizing those with high student mental health needs or trauma history. Each participating district must staff units with at least a school nurse, social worker, and licensed counselor to provide crisis intervention during school hours and rotate across schools. The program requires annual reports on participating districts and student mental health impacts, ending June 30, 2028.
HB 542 appropriates $7.5 million annually from the ARPA Temporary Savings Fund for the 2025-2027 fiscal biennium to expand mental and behavioral health services for children, families, and staff in North Carolina child care facilities and out-of-school programs. The funds, managed by the North Carolina Partnership for Children (NCPC), must supplement existing services and cannot replace current funding, with unused funds remaining available until fully spent. NCPC must distribute the funds to local partnerships and submit annual progress reports detailing services provided, participants served, and recommendations for future initiatives. The bill also establishes a special fund to hold unexpended funds, allowing NCPC to retain up to $5 million in cash annually for future use.
SB 181 allocates $2 million annually from the General Fund for the 2025-2027 fiscal biennium to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. This funding will support adding five new mobile crisis teams focused on serving communities with the highest need for mental health, developmental disability, and substance use crisis services. The bill directs these teams to operate within the state’s existing mental health framework, with implementation beginning July 1, 2025. It directly affects residents in underserved areas by expanding access to immediate crisis response through these specialized mobile units.
HB 504 allocates $474,680 over the 2025-2027 fiscal biennium to fund a pilot program in Mecklenburg County towns (Matthews, Pineville, and Mint Hill), directly affecting these localities and residents experiencing mental health crises. The bill provides funds to hire full-time mental health professionals who will work alongside police officers during mental health-related emergency calls, integrating clinical support into law enforcement responses. Each participating town receives specific annual allocations ($131,280 for Matthews, $171,700 each for Pineville and Mint Hill) to support this co-responder model. The program aims to improve outcomes for individuals in mental health distress by pairing law enforcement with mental health professionals during crisis calls. The bill becomes effective July 1, 2025.
HB 242 adds freestanding psychiatric hospitals (licensed, Medicare-certified facilities primarily providing psychiatric care that are not state-owned) to North Carolina’s Medicaid Healthcare Access and Stabilization Program (HASP). This expands the existing program - which currently reimburses acute care hospitals - to include these psychiatric hospitals, providing them with increased Medicaid reimbursements. The funding will come from a new quarterly assessment levied on the psychiatric hospitals themselves, calculated as a percentage of their hospital costs. The bill does not change patient eligibility but alters how these specific hospitals receive Medicaid payments through the HASP program.
