Approved by Committee Members 12/12/2022
Community Emergency Services and Support Act (CESSA) Statewide Advisory Committee
Meeting Minutes - October 14, 2022 - 1:00-3:00 pm via WebEx
Recording and auto-generated captions are available online.
Welcome, Roll Call, and Approval of the Minutes
Secretary of Human Services Grace Hou opens the meeting at 1:04 pm.
Brent Reynolds moved to accept the minutes, Curtis Harris seconded.
Cindy Barbera-Brelle present, yes
Shelly Dallas, present, yes
Brent Reynold, present, yes
David Albert, present, yes
Ashley Thoele, present, yes
Drew Hansen, present, yes
Richard Manthy, present, yes
Jim Kaitschuk, present, yes
Alice Cary, present, abstain
Blanca Campos, present, yes
Emily Miller, present, yes
Erika Freeman, present, yes
Pooja Nagpal, not present, n/a
Chris Huff, not present, n/a
Curtis Harris, present, yes
13 of 15 present for a quorum-12 votes to approve-1 abstention-minutes for 9/12/2022 approved.
Open Meetings Act
Lee Ann Reinert read the instructions regarding the Illinois Open Meetings Act.
State Updates
Provided by Lee Ann Reinert
- Vibrant 988 Unified Platform pilots are delayed to January 2023
- Vibrant 988 State metrics report also delayed. Though internal state data suggests that our call volume and in-state answer rate are increasing
- Chat and text users are younger, and a higher rate of suicidal ideation is higher than the phone users only, so we think that we are reaching more people
- DMH continues to develop guidance for MCRT and 988 LCCs, as we continue to work on 911
- New members in the ECG: Maalik Nevels, TASC; all RAC co-chairs as local experts
- Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) appointment letters are being delivered to appointees
- RACs preparing to schedule and hold inaugural meetings
- Review of RAC co-chairs and membership
Technical Subcommittee Updates
Protocols and Standards
Cindy Barbera-Brelle, Chair; support from Lorrie Jones, Consultant to DHS/DMH
Lorrie Jones described the activities of the subcommittee: the first meeting was held, meeting leadership was identified, a charter was discussed and approved, the meeting time and cadence was approved and posted to the state's Open Meetings Act site.
Technology, Systems Integration and Data Management
Brent Reynolds, Chair; Peter Eckart, support from UIC Behavioral Health Crisis Hub
Alice Cary and Jim Kaitschuk added for law enforcement perspective and data
Daniel Lee, IDPH, presented on the state prehospital dataset
Questions
Campos: Will the standards and protocols work be addressed in RACs?
Reinert: Yes. And some issues will be universal for the state and benefit from a technical discussion at the technical SUC.
Communications Challenges
Slides, with Q&A
Discussion, with answers from Reinert unless otherwise noted
Hansen: This is the biggest issue we've experienced. A global problem across the state. Our members are looking for advice as to how to talk with law enforcement partners.
Hou: How can we address these misunderstandings?
We've been working on this. Education is a way. Reach out to LE partners to discuss prior to an incident. Perhaps reaching out through Illinois Police Chiefs association.
Campos: Echo Hansen. Thanks for bringing this up. Our 590 providers are experiencing this too. The key is to get these messages out to the ground.
Reynolds: Agree that this is the biggest challenge is misinformation. We've gotten a good start but need to fill in the gaps. We work with the state associations to make sure that we get the message out. We need to highlight that the legislation date is 1/1/23 but also that nothing happens until the recommendations are in place. We don't want to rush in before we get the recommendations in place. We don't want to rush in because there is an artificial date in the legislation.
Reinert: What are the strategies you are using, how are you getting the messages out, and given that we know that communications is a challenge, how do we use other ways to get communication out?
Reynolds: These meetings are very important. But some folks in our industry don't know about these meetings. The two 911 associations have communicated the dates. Important not to filter the information, so people need to hear it from the source.
Kaitschuk: Some of the confusion is lack of separation between 988 and CESSA. They are understood together but they need to be separated. If folks read the CESSA legislation, it's clear that law enforcement can respond if there is a violation of law.We're also dealing with confusion with the SAFE-T Act. Police will listen to police organizations, so if CESSA staff has info that we can push out, that could help. There are questions outside of law enforcement where the details are also not well understood.
Harris: Also confused about the distinction between 988 and CESSA. Suggestions: work with social workers and other associated entities.
Miller: Agree with others. One of the tasks of the Communications Subcommittee would be to develop unified messaging campaign, to reach beyond this Committee. We have a good understanding, but there is so much change and transformation happening that information is lost in translation through the lines. A unified campaign with the same information for all would be good to develop.
Manthy: Agree with others. Important to make it clear to the PSAPs that it's business as usual until the recommendations are in place. We have criteria for transferring to 988, but do the 988 call centers have criteria for sending back to 911?
Reinert: The 988s have been operating for years as the NSPL and have established protocols for this. There has not been any state legislation that addresses these protocols, so CESSA will address this.
Kaitschuk: What does it mean to say that there is no liability currently?
Reinert: We have heard that there is confusion about liability as a part of CESSA, so we're clarifying that there is no current liability.
Kaitschuk: There is no liability section or penalty provision in CESSA.
Public Comment
Nate Sanders
Appreciate the time taken to ensure there are no gaps. Families in my communities want a non-police response.
Patrick Finlon
Regarding confusion related to law enforcement response to is for effective dates regarding 1/1/22 and 1/1/23. Get attorney general opinion. And regarding culpability for liability. The legislation is about 'will" or "shall." Also, there will be a lot of work in collecting the data which increases law enforcement workload.
Kimberly Klein
I make presentations on CESSA as a part of my work, because there is a lot of confusion regarding the language, especially with Law Enforcement. As a result of working with LE and mental health providers. I've developed recommendations regarding changes in the legislation, which I'd be happy to share.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned by Secretary Hou at 2:32 pm.
