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2021 SESSION

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20106691D
SENATE BILL NO. 569 AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE (Proposed by the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations on January 28, 2020) (Patron Prior to Substitute--Senator Dunnavant) A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 37.2-312.3 and by adding in Chapter 11 of Title 52 a section numbered 52-50, relating to the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services and the Department of State Police; mobile applications; mental health and public safety.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered 37.2-312.3 and by adding in Chapter 11 of Title 52 a section numbered 52-50 as follows:

§ 37.2-312.3. Mental health mobile application.

A. The Department shall develop or obtain a mental health mobile application to facilitate the provision of real-time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week crisis intervention services by clinicians, including support or crisis counseling, suicide prevention, and referral services, to individuals in the Commonwealth through calls, texts, and online chat portals.

B. The mobile application described in subsection A shall be integrated with a crisis hotline established by the Department as part of System Transformation Excellence and Performance (STEP-VA) or any successor program.

C. The Secretary of Health and Human Resources shall determine and direct the appropriate agencies to promote, market, and advertise the use of the mental health mobile application throughout the Commonwealth through such agencies' existing staff and digital programs.

§ 52-50. Public safety mobile application.

A. The Department of State Police, in coordination with the Virginia Fusion Intelligence Center (the Center), shall develop or obtain a public safety mobile application to provide to individuals in the Commonwealth a platform that is capable of receiving text, audio, images, and video to submit confidential tips concerning (i) a suspected, anticipated, or completed criminal violation or (ii) bullying, threats of school violence, or other school-related safety concerns. The public safety mobile application may include a panic button and an active shooter button. The Department of State Police, in coordination with the Center, shall develop a referral system to ensure that confidential tips received through the mobile application are referred to the appropriate law-enforcement agency, school board, threat assessment team, or other relevant entity.

B. The Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security shall determine and direct the appropriate agencies to promote, market, and advertise the use of the public safety mobile application throughout the Commonwealth through such agencies' existing staff and digital programs.

2. That the provisions of § 37.2-312.3 of the Code of Virginia, as created by this act, shall become effective on July 1, 2021, provided that the provisions of this act shall not become effective unless an appropriation effectuating the purposes of this act is included in a general appropriation act passed in 2020 by the General Assembly that becomes law.