Allocation of federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funds for a statewide public safety interoperable communication system, emergency services IP network contracts, a geographic information systems database, and psychiatric treatment beds

The bill also provides that of the money the governor accepts from the federal government under the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the governor shall allocate $33,000,000 for the development of an updated statewide public safety interoperable communication system.

Emergency services IP network contracts Under current law, DMA must contract for the creation, operation, and maintenance of an emergency services IP network to provide all public safety answering points with the necessary infrastructure to implement Next Generation 911.

The bill provides that of the money the governor accepts from the federal government under the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the governor shall allocate $18,500,000 for emergency services IP network contracts.

Geographic information systems database The bill provides that of the money the governor accepts from the federal government under the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the governor shall allocate $1,700,000 to develop a statewide geographic information systems database.

Grant for psychiatric beds This bill allows the Building Commission to award a grant to a hospital in Eau Claire County, as specified in the bill, in the amount of $15,000,000 for the purpose of expanding capacity by 22 psychiatric beds between the hospital in Eau Claire County and a hospital in Chippewa County. The bill requires the governor to allocate $15,000,000 of the funds accepted under the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 for purposes of the grant. If the grant awarded under this bill is not used for the purpose of expanding psychiatric bed capacity, the state retains an ownership interest in the hospital's expansion equal to the amount of the state's grant.

Emergency detention is a current law procedure for temporary involuntary commitment of individuals who are believed to be mentally ill, drug dependent, or developmentally disabled and who demonstrate a substantial probability of causing harm to themselves or others or an inability to satisfy certain basic needs due to a mental illness. The hospital that is awarded the grant under the bill must do all of the following: 1) give preference in admissions for the beds added under the bill to individuals who meet the criteria for emergency detention and who are from one of the counties specified in the bill; 2) identify measures it believes will serve the needs of residents with mental health needs, especially in reducing the burden on the Winnebago Mental Health Institute; 3) report annually to the legislature on the services provided with grant moneys; and 4) recognize that it is liable to repay the grant to the state if the hospital fails to maintain continued expanded services and expanded numbers of psychiatric beds. The bill specifies that the determination of whether the hospital is meeting its requirement to provide expanded services must be based on findings that at least half of the expanded psychiatric beds are available for individuals admitted for emergency detention and that the hospital enters into agreements containing terms specified in the bill with at least two-thirds of the specified counties.