A robust crisis care system is necessary to ensure our children receive the support they need. New Hampshire's crisis care system includes:
- Someone To Talk To: The New Hampshire Rapid Response Access Point provides 24/7 crisis counseling. The program assisted Granite Staters via call, text, and chat more than 46,000 times in 2024.1
- Someone To Respond: Mobile crisis response teams provide rapid on-site assessment and support.
- Somewhere To Go: Crisis stabilization centers in Derry and Laconia offer 23 hours of supervised care.
Despite the growing mental health crisis in our state, New Hampshire’s behavioral health crisis system is funded through a patchwork of sources that do not offer long-term stability.
To address this, the bipartisan Commission on Behavioral Health Crisis Services was created in 2023. This group studied sustainable funding mechanisms for the crisis system and made recommendations that became the basis for 2025 legislation.
About the Bill
Senate Bill 255 proposes a fiscally responsible, commonsense solution that would make some of the bipartisan Commission's recommendations a reality. The "someone to talk to" pillar of the crisis system would be permanently funded using the same proven model that has worked for our 911 system for decades.
The behavioral health crisis care system protects access to timely and clinically appropriate services while preventing unnecessary and expensive hospitalizations. Access to crisis care reduces uncompensated care and wait times at our local hospitals' emergency departments.2,3
The legislation would protect taxpayers while ensuring our emergency services can respond effectively to all types of crises. Investments in crisis care also lower the burden of local first responders and police by reducing unnecessary 911 calls and dispatches.
Moving to a long-term funding model is critical to ensure the system continues to meet the needs of all Granite Staters.
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Bill Status
FEBRUARY 6: The Senate Health and Human Services Committee held a public hearing on Senate Bill 255. You can read the committee report here. 295 people signed in to support the bill, 2 people signed in to oppose, and 3 were neutral.
FEBRUARY 19: The Senate Health and Human Services Committee recommended 5-0 that the full Senate pass the bill.
MARCH 6: The NH State Senate passed the bill as part of their consent calendar (where less controversial bills are voted on together by voice vote).
MARCH 18: As the bill involves state finances (signified by FN for "fiscal note" after the bill number), it was considered next by the Senate Finance Committee. They recommended 7-0 that the full Senate pass the bill. However, they did not place the bill on the consent calendar, likely because they intend for the bill to be tabled in the full Senate, where it may be included in the Senate's version of the state budget.
MARCH 27: The bill was unanimously tabled for possible inclusion in the Senate’s version of the NH state budget.
JUNE 3: The Senate Finance Committee included language from SB 255 in their proposed budget!
JUNE 5: The entire Senate voted to include the language of SB 255 in their budget proposal. The House then voted to non-concur, meaning they didn't agree to all the changes the Senate made to the budget bills. A Committee of Conference was formed so delegates from the Senate and the House could work through their disagreements and make compromises.
June 26: The budget Committee of Conference submitted its final draft of the state budget and it was approved by the House and Senate. Unfortunately, negotiations resulted in the proposed 988 funding mechanism being removed from the budget. Luckily, general funds will be used for the NH Rapid Response Access Point for the next two years.
June 27: Gov. Ayotte signed the budget into law.
July 1: The budget went into effect, and will guide state spending until July 2027.
Next: New Futures will continue to spread the word about the importance of permanent funding. Please see above to share your personal or professional experience with 988.
You can learn more about how New Hampshire's legislative process works on our About the Legislature webpage, or take one of our advocacy trainings.
References
- “988 data.” Email from Division for Behavioral Health: New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. March 3, 2025.
- SAMHSA National Guidelines for Behavioral Health Crisis Care: Best Practice Toolkit. https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/national-guidelines-for-behavioral-health-crisis-care-02242020.pdf. The table on page 44 shows the very real cost savings that can be realized by implementing mobile crisis and facility-based crisis services in your community... When mobile team and facility-based crisis services are included in optimal ratios (last column of table that follows), total cost drops by 52% in these projections despite engaging all of these individuals. This means that 32% more individuals are served with programs that align better to the unique level of clinical need while costs are reduced by 52%.”
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Crisis Services: Effectiveness, Cost Effectiveness, and Funding Strategies. https://library.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/sma14-4848.pdf. HHS Publication No. (SMA)-14-4848. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2014.
