Culturally responsive adult mental health grants and children's mental health grants establishment and appropriation

A bill for an act

relating to human services; establishing and appropriating money for specific or

culturally responsive adult mental health grants and children's mental health grants;

appropriating money for mobile crisis grants and school-linked mental health

grants prioritizing geographic areas most impacted by the United States Department

of Homeland Security Operation Metro Surge; amending Minnesota Statutes 2025

Supplement, sections 245.4661, subdivision 9; 245.4889, subdivision 1.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2025 Supplement, section 245.4661, subdivision 9, is

amended to read:

Subd. 9.

Services and programs.

(a) The following three distinct grant programs are

funded under this section:

(1) mental health crisis services;

(2) housing with supports for adults with serious mental illness; and

(3) projects for assistance in transitioning from homelessness (PATH program).

(b) In addition, the following are eligible for grant funds:

(1) community education and prevention;

(2) client outreach;

(3) early identification and intervention;

(4) adult outpatient diagnostic assessment and psychological testing;

(5) peer support services;

(6) community support program services (CSP);

(7) adult residential crisis stabilization;

(8) supported employment;

(9) assertive community treatment (ACT);

(10) housing subsidies;

(11) basic living, social skills, and community intervention;

(12) emergency response services;

(13) adult outpatient psychotherapy;

(14) adult outpatient medication management;

(15) adult mobile crisis services, including the purchase and renovation of vehicles by

mobile crisis teams in order to provide protected transport under section
256B.0625
,

subdivision 17, paragraph (l), clause (6);

(16) adult day treatment;

(17) partial hospitalization;

(18) adult residential treatment;

(19) adult mental health targeted case management;
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and
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(20) transportation
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.
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; and
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(21) culturally specific or culturally responsive adult mental health services.

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Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2025 Supplement, section 245.4889, subdivision 1, is amended

to read:

Subdivision 1.

Establishment and authority.

(a) The commissioner is authorized to

make grants from available appropriations to assist:

(1) counties;

(2) Indian tribes;

(3) children's collaboratives under section
142D.15
or
245.493
; or

(4) mental health service providers.

(b) The following services are eligible for grants under this section:

(1) services to children with mental illness as defined in section
245.4871
, subdivision

15, and their families;

(2) transition services under section
245.4875, subdivision 8
, for young adults under

age 21 and their families;

(3) respite care services for children with mental illness or serious mental illness who

are at risk of residential treatment or hospitalization; who are already in residential treatment

or therapeutic foster care or in family foster settings as defined in chapter 142B and at risk

of change in foster care or placement in a residential facility or other higher level of care;

who have utilized crisis services or emergency room services; or who have experienced a

loss of in-home staffing support. Allowable activities and expenses for respite care services

are defined under subdivision 4. A child is not required to have case management services

to receive respite care services. Counties must work to provide access to regularly scheduled

respite care;

(4) children's mental health crisis services;

(5) child-, youth-, and family-specific mobile response and stabilization services models;

(6) mental health services for people from cultural and ethnic minorities,
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and culturally

specific or culturally responsive mental health services,
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including supervision of clinical

trainees who are Black, Indigenous, or people of color;

(7) children's mental health screening and follow-up diagnostic assessment and treatment;

(8) services to promote and develop the capacity of providers to use evidence-based

practices in providing children's mental health services;

(9) school-linked mental health services under section
245.4901
;

(10) building evidence-based mental health intervention capacity for children birth to

age five;

(11) suicide prevention and counseling services that use text messaging statewide;

(12) mental health first aid training;

(13) training for parents, collaborative partners, and mental health providers on the

impact of adverse childhood experiences and trauma and development of an interactive

website to share information and strategies to promote resilience and prevent trauma;

(14) transition age services to develop or expand mental health treatment and supports

for adolescents and young adults 26 years of age or younger;

(15) early childhood mental health consultation;

(16) evidence-based interventions for youth at risk of developing or experiencing a first

episode of psychosis, and a public awareness campaign on the signs and symptoms of

psychosis;

(17) psychiatric consultation for primary care practitioners;

(18) providers to begin operations and meet program requirements when establishing a

new children's mental health program. These may be start-up grants; and

(19) evidence-based interventions for youth and young adults at risk of developing or

experiencing an early episode of bipolar disorder.

(c) Services under paragraph (b) must be designed to help each child to function and

remain with the child's family in the community and delivered consistent with the child's

treatment plan. Transition services to eligible young adults under this paragraph must be

designed to foster independent living in the community.

(d) As a condition of receiving grant funds, a grantee shall obtain all available third-party

reimbursement sources, if applicable.

(e) The commissioner may establish and design a pilot program to expand the mobile

response and stabilization services model for children, youth, and families. The commissioner

may use grant funding to consult with a qualified expert entity to assist in the formulation

of measurable outcomes and explore and position the state to submit a Medicaid state plan

amendment to scale the model statewide.

Sec. 3.
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APPROPRIATION; MOBILE CRISIS GRANTS.
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$....... in fiscal year 2027 is appropriated from the general fund to the commissioner of

human services for adult mobile crisis services grants under Minnesota Statutes, section

245.4661, subdivision 9, paragraph (b), clause (15). For grants awarded under this section,

the commissioner must give priority to counties, adult mental health initiatives, and Tribes

in the geographic areas most impacted by the United States Department of Homeland

Security Operation Metro Surge, as determined by the commissioner. Grantees must report

to the commissioner on the use of money received under this section, in a form and manner

prescribed by the commissioner. This is a onetime appropriation and is available until June

30, 2029.

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Sec. 4.
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APPROPRIATION; SCHOOL-LINKED BEHAVIORAL HEALTH GRANTS.
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(a) $....... in fiscal year 2027 is appropriated from the general fund to the commissioner

of human services for school-linked behavioral health grants under Minnesota Statutes,

section 245.4901. For grants awarded under this section, the commissioner must give priority

to grantees that will provide school-linked behavioral health services in school districts or

individual schools that have experienced increased rates of student absences or increased

enrollment in online instruction since December 2025 related to the United States Department

of Homeland Security Operation Metro Surge. If requested by the commissioner of human

services, the commissioner of education must share data on attendance rates with the

commissioner of human services for purposes of determining priority for grant awards under

this section.

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(b) Grantees must report to the commissioner on the use of money received under this

section, in a form and manner prescribed by the commissioner.

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(c) This is a onetime appropriation and is available until June 30, 2029.

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Sec. 5.
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APPROPRIATION; CULTURALLY SPECIFIC OR CULTURALLY

RESPONSIVE ADULT MENTAL HEALTH GRANTS.
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(a) $....... in fiscal year 2027 is appropriated from the general fund to the commissioner

of human services for grants to provide culturally specific or culturally responsive adult

mental health treatment services under Minnesota Statutes, section 245.4661, subdivision

9, paragraph (b), clause (21). For grants awarded under this section, the commissioner must

give priority to grantees in the geographic areas most impacted by the United States

Department of Homeland Security Operation Metro Surge, as determined by the

commissioner. Grantees must have demonstrated experience addressing and treating adult

mental health issues related to community-wide trauma, including but not limited to

post-traumatic stress disorder.

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(b) For purposes of this section, a provider of culturally specific or culturally responsive

adult mental health treatment services must attest that the provider:

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(1) improves service quality to and outcomes of a specific community that shares a

common language or racial, ethnic, or social background by advancing health equity to help

eliminate health disparities;

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(2) is governed with significant input from individuals of the community or background

specified in clause (1);

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(3) ensures effective, equitable, comprehensive, and respectful quality services that are

responsive to an individual within a specific community's values, beliefs and practices,

health literacy, preferred language, and other communication needs;

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(4) complies with national standards for culturally and linguistically appropriate services

or other equivalent standards, as determined by the commissioner; and

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(5) employs individuals to provide mental health treatment services, at least 50 percent

of whom are members of the specific community being served.

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(c) Grantees must report to the commissioner on the use of money received under this

section, in a form and manner prescribed by the commissioner.

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(d) This is a onetime appropriation and is available until June 30, 2029.

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Sec. 6.
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APPROPRIATION; CULTURALLY SPECIFIC OR CULTURALLY

RESPONSIVE CHILDREN'S MENTAL HEALTH GRANTS.
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(a) $....... in fiscal year 2027 is appropriated from the general fund to the commissioner

of human services for grants to provide culturally specific or culturally responsive children's

mental health treatment services, under Minnesota Statutes, section 245.4889, subdivision

1, paragraph (b), clause (6). For grants awarded under this section, the commissioner must

give priority to grantees in the geographic areas most impacted by the United States

Department of Homeland Security Operation Metro Surge, as determined by the

commissioner. Grantees must have demonstrated experience addressing and treating

children's mental health related to community-wide trauma, including but not limited to

post-traumatic stress disorder.

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(b) For purposes of this section, a provider of culturally specific or culturally responsive

children's mental health treatment services must attest that the provider:

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(1) improves service quality to and outcomes of a specific community that shares a

common language or racial, ethnic, or social background by advancing health equity to help

eliminate health disparities;

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(2) is governed with significant input from individuals of the community or background

specified in clause (1);

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(3) ensures effective, equitable, comprehensive, and respectful quality services that are

responsive to an individual within a specific community's values, beliefs and practices,

health literacy, preferred language, and other communication needs;

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(4) complies with national standards for culturally and linguistically appropriate services

or other equivalent standards, as determined by the commissioner; and

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(5) employs individuals to provide mental health treatment services, at least 50 percent

of whom are members of the specific community being served.

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(c) Grantees must report to the commissioner on the use of money received under this

section, in a form and manner prescribed by the commissioner.

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(d) This is a onetime appropriation and is available until June 30, 2029.

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