Bill > SB434

This bill establishes a pilot program within Hawaii's Department of Health to provide intensive mobile mental health treatment services for chronically homeless adults with serious brain disorders like schizophrenia. The program will create one mobile team that can serve up to 40 participants, offering comprehensive services including after-hours crisis response, emergency room visits, collaboration with law enforcement, medication management, and assistance with housing placement. The team will actively pursue community treatment orders when appropriate and engage social work interns and advanced practice nursing students to expand service capacity. The mobile team will be required to submit detailed reports to the legislature in 2026 and 2027, tracking metrics such as participant arrests, hospitalizations, housing placements, and medication initiation. The program is funded with $1,300,000 for each of two fiscal years and will establish 8.1 full-time equivalent positions, including a clinical supervisor, psychiatrist, social workers, a registered nurse, an epidemiologist, and a program specialist. The pilot program will operate from July 1, 2025, until June 30, 2028, with the goal of providing targeted, intensive mental health support to a vulnerable population experiencing both homelessness and serious mental illness.

Health and Social Services

https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=434&year=2026