Padilla, Tillis Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Strengthen and Enhance Suicide Prevention Efforts Through 9-8-8 Lifeline

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, as part of Mental Health Awareness Month, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), co-chairs of the bipartisan Senate Mental Health Caucus, introduced legislation to improve and expand access to the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. The 9-8-8 Connect Act would provide follow-up services to individuals receiving suicide prevention and crisis intervention services. Representatives Jamie Raskin (D-Md.-8) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.-1) introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives. The bipartisan 9-8-8 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline has been critical for supporting Americans in crisis and has increasingly provided callers with necessary resources when experiencing crises. The American Foundation of Suicide Prevention reports that 80% of surveyed crisis line callers said that follow-up services helped save their lives. Research consistently shows that follow up services help prevent suicidal behavior and the subsequent need for additional inpatient or emergency department intervention. A lack of follow-up support does not provide callers with long-term support they may need. This bill would expand necessary follow-up services among crisis centers through check-in calls, outreach to ensure engagement, collaboration with family and caregivers, and referral navigation. “No one should ever feel abandoned after taking their first step of asking for help,” said Senator Padilla. “The 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline has proven to be an incredible resource available to all Americans. As we continue to confront the mental health crisis, it is critical that we expand the Lifeline so those who need it most can receive support beyond their initial outreach. I am proud to work alongside Senator Tillis to make advancements to the 9-8-8 Lifeline to ensure every person who calls is able to receive continued care.” “As co-chair of the Senate Mental Health Caucus, I’m proud to work with Senator Padilla to introduce the 9-8-8 Connect Act and help ensure Americans experiencing a mental health crisis can quickly connect with local care and support,” said Senator Tillis . “We’ve made meaningful progress in expanding access to mental health services in recent years, and this bipartisan legislation builds on that work by strengthening the 9-8-8 Lifeline and helping more people get the timely, lifesaving care they need.” “AFSP is proud to support the bipartisan 9-8-8 Connect Act , which will strengthen suicide prevention efforts by helping connect people experiencing suicide, mental health, and substance use crises to lifesaving follow-up care and expanding access to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, ” said Robert Gebbia, Chief Executive Officer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention . “Since July 2022, 988 has received more than 23 million calls, texts and chats, demonstrating the critical need for accessible crisis support. Research shows that follow-up services such as check-in calls provide continued support and strengthen connections to ongoing care, with 80% of surveyed crisis line callers reporting that follow-up calls helped save their lives. The 9-8-8 Connect Act would expand access to these services, allow calls and texts to 988 from inactive phone plans, and ensure that multi-line systems—such as those in hotels, offices, and military bases—support direct dialing to 988. AFSP thanks Senators Padilla and Tillis for their bipartisan leadership in advancing this important legislation.” Specifically, the legislation would improve access to and the accuracy of 9-8-8 response by: Establishing a new grant program for eligible crisis centers to provide follow-up services to individuals receiving suicide prevention and crisis intervention services including check-in calls; outreach to ensure engagement in services and support; collaboration with family and caregivers, and referral navigation. Instructing carriers to allow calls and texts to 9-8-8 even if their phone plan is inactive or the carrier is experiencing service interruptions or failures, just as they currently do for 911 calls Obligating multi-line systems like hotel and office phones to support the direct dialing of 9-8-8, rather than requiring a caller to dial 9 or another number before dialing 9-8-8. In addition to Padilla and Tillis, this legislation was co-sponsored by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Va.), and Angus King (I-Maine). Senator Padilla has been a strong advocate for expanding mental health care access, especially for underserved communities. Previously, under the Biden Administration, Padilla applauded the Federal Communications Commission for making critical improvements to the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by adopting the main provisions of his Local 9-8-8 Response Act of 2023 . Last year, Padilla led bipartisan legislation with U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) to strengthen the cybersecurity protocols for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in response to previous outages. Additionally, Padilla introduced bipartisan legislation last year to combat the growing youth mental health crisis in America through early intervention and prevention services. A one-pager of the bill is available here . Any person in crisis and in need of help can dial 9-8-8 to reach free and confidential professional support 24/7 or can visit 988lifeline.org/chat/ to start a free and confidential conversation. ###