SF 4456

Introduction - 94th Legislature (2025 - 2026)

Posted on 03/18/2026 09:10 a.m.

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; deleted text begin and
deleted text end

(20) transportation deleted text begin . deleted text end new text begin ; and
new text end

new text begin (21) culturally specific or culturally responsive adult mental health services.
new text end

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, new text begin and culturally
specific or culturally responsive mental health services, new text end 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. new text begin APPROPRIATION; MOBILE CRISIS GRANTS.
new text end

new text begin $....... 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.
new text end

Sec. 4. new text begin APPROPRIATION; SCHOOL-LINKED BEHAVIORAL HEALTH GRANTS.
new text end

new text begin (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.
new text end

new text begin (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.
new text end

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

Sec. 5. new text begin APPROPRIATION; CULTURALLY SPECIFIC OR CULTURALLY
RESPONSIVE ADULT MENTAL HEALTH GRANTS.
new text end

new text begin (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.
new text end

new text begin (b) For purposes of this section, a provider of culturally specific or culturally responsive
adult mental health treatment services must attest that the provider:
new text end

new text begin (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;
new text end

new text begin (2) is governed with significant input from individuals of the community or background
specified in clause (1);
new text end

new text begin (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;
new text end

new text begin (4) complies with national standards for culturally and linguistically appropriate services
or other equivalent standards, as determined by the commissioner; and
new text end

new text begin (5) employs individuals to provide mental health treatment services, at least 50 percent
of whom are members of the specific community being served.
new text end

new text begin (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.
new text end

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

Sec. 6. new text begin APPROPRIATION; CULTURALLY SPECIFIC OR CULTURALLY
RESPONSIVE CHILDREN'S MENTAL HEALTH GRANTS.
new text end

new text begin (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.
new text end

new text begin (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:
new text end

new text begin (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;
new text end

new text begin (2) is governed with significant input from individuals of the community or background
specified in clause (1);
new text end

new text begin (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;
new text end

new text begin (4) complies with national standards for culturally and linguistically appropriate services
or other equivalent standards, as determined by the commissioner; and
new text end

new text begin (5) employs individuals to provide mental health treatment services, at least 50 percent
of whom are members of the specific community being served.
new text end

new text begin (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.
new text end

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