Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support getting Americans the help that they need. More than one in five 911 calls involve mental health or substance use crises. That amounts to millions of calls per year. To keep these Americans safe, we need to connect them to healthcare. It is wasteful, hurtful, and a travesty of justice to criminalize people in mental health crises rather than deliver care. One in four fatal law enforcement encounters ends the life of someone with mental illness. We cannot improve public safety without giving our communities a better response system for mental health crises. My bill, the Mental Health Justice Act, funds local communities to create specialized mental health response units. Made up of trained health professionals, these units can be dispatched to respond to emergency calls for mental health. That way, people in crisis can get the care they need; police officers can focus on crime, including stopping violent crime and other core law enforcement duties; and our communities get another tool to address our mental health crisis. The Mental Health Justice Act has widespread support from advocacy organizations fighting for mental health and civil rights because this approach works. In cities that already have these programs across the country, we see incredible, positive results and support from local law enforcement. In Orange County, our law enforcement officials support this bill because their job is already difficult enough.…”