State lawmakers heard hours of testimony on Monday in support of a bill to significantly expand services for people experiencing a mental health crisis.
Lawmakers will consider several bills this week that are related to last October's mass shooting in Lewiston or that are being pursued with more urgency following the incident.
One measure that has received broad, bipartisan support would create at least six "crisis receiving centers" where people experiencing mental health or substance use issues could receive immediate help. Modeled after a facility in Portland that has served more than 1,200 people in two years, the crisis receiving centers are touted as a better alternative to taking people in crisis to an emergency room or jail.
The bill,LD 2237, would also fund mobile crisis units able to deploy 24 hours a day around the state.
House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, Portland Democrat who is the lead sponsor of the bill, acknowledged that expanding services carries a price tag — perhaps $17.5 million to $20 million. But Talbot Ross described it as an investment in the health and well-being of Maine residents.
"To make sure that they can feel safe when they go to bed at night, and their children can go to school, that you can go bowl in a (bowling) alley, that you can to go a movie theater, that you can go worship in a church . . . it feels like a very, very minimal amount of money to invest in Mainers and each other," Talbot Ross said.
Some aspects of the bill — which has roughly 100 co-sponsors — mirror or build upon mental health proposals that Gov. Janet Mills has proposedin response to the Lewiston shooting and as part of her supplemental budget. Those proposals as well as several gun safety measures will the subjects of public hearings later this week.
The mental health bill received support from a broad range of public health groups, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Maine, the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the Maine Medical Association and the Maine Public Health Association.
Mark Joyce, an attorney with Disability Rights Maine, said the expansion of the mobile crisis units will also likely help guide people into seeking mental health treatment in their communities.
"I cannot tell you how many of my clients over the last 23 years, when their first involvement in the mental health system has been a ride to the emergency room, they tell me, 'That's the last time I am ever asking for help,'" Joyce said.
The bill would also create an Office of Violence Prevention within the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Another provision would require the state to launch a program with gun shops focused on suicide prevention. Dubbed a "gun shop project," the program would offer educational materials as well as training to gun shop owners and employees on suicide awareness. In 2021, nearly 90% of the 178 gun-related deaths in Maine were suicides.
The National Rifle Association testified neither for nor against the bill on Monday.
The legislation also aims to improve the state's communication with the deaf and hard-of-hearing community in the event of an active shooter or other emergency.
Four deaf men were among the 18 people killed during last October's mass shooting in Lewiston. Five others survived the incident.
But Thomas Minch, advocate in the deaf services program of Disability Rights Maine, told lawmakers through an interpreter on Monday that the deaf and hard-of-hearing community was "shut out from public information" immediately after the shooting. That's because initial press conferences either didn't have American Sign Language interpreters or closed captioning, or the television audience could not see them.
Minch said members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community were forced to rely on person-to-person information sharing about whether the shooter remained at large or if they were still expected to shelter in place. He said messages should be sent out in multiple, redundant formats to ensure accessibility for everyone.
"On October 25th, public communications about the shooting failed to include or consider us," Minch said. "This failure was terrifying. Communication procedures much be put in place now to make sure deaf and hard-of-hearing people know about active shooter situations and how we should respond."
