Update on the Daniel's Law Task Force

Daniel Prude lost is life during an interaction with police in March 2020. The circumstances of his death brought into question the actions of police during that incident and ignited calls for structural reform with respect to the role of law enforcement when responding to behavioral health crises in the community.

A large coalition of patients’ rights, civil rights, and human rights advocates have been working together to create an entirely new framework for behavioral health crisis response in the community. Their hard work has resulted in “Daniel’s Law,” a legislative proposal to create state and local councils to develop new standards and protocols for community crisis intervention. The effort to pass the core provisions of Daniel’s Law continues, but one part of the law has become a reality—the Daniel’s Law Task Force.

The task force was created by Chapter 57 of the laws of 2023 and is a collaborative effort by the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) and the New York State Office for Addiction Supports and Services (OASAS), state legislators, local government officials, and stakeholders with lived experience. The task force’s objectives signal a commitment to a new paradigm for how we treat people in crisis in the community, including:

• Identifying potential operational and financial needs to support trauma-informed, community-based, and public health-based crisis response and diversion for anyone in the state experiencing a mental health, alcohol use, or substance use crisis
• Reviewing and recommending programs and systems operating within the state or nationally that could be deployed as a model crisis and emergency services system
• Identifying potential funding sources for expanding mental health, alcohol use, and substance use crisis response and diversion services

The task force has 10 members, who represent specific stakeholder perspectives:

1. The commissioner of OMH, who shall serve as chair 
2. The commissioner of OASAS or their designee
3. The commissioner of the Division of Criminal Justice Services
4. One member appointed by the temporary president of the New York State Senate
5. One member appointed by the speaker of the New York State General Assembly 
6. One individual with expertise in crisis response through the State Emergency Medical Services Council 
7. One individual working as a licensed mental health professional 
8. One individual who is employed as a crisis response call center personnel or crisis intervention personnel 
9. One representative of the New York Conference of Local Mental Hygiene Directors
10. An individual with lived experience mental health and/or alcohol use or substance use disorder

The task force is designed to bring together various and sometimes divergent viewpoints. In practice, this diversity creates a fertile ground for good-faith dialogue, as any viewer of the task force’s meetings can attest. The meetings are streamed live and are archived and available anytime thereafter on the Daniel’s Law Task Force webpage. The most recent meeting took place on August 26, 2024. Like prior meetings, it featured guest experts, who discussed a specific aspect of the overall challenge. The meeting’s focus was on the interface between police and clinicians from a law enforcement perspective. Department of Criminal Justice Services Commissioner Rossana Rosado introduced members of her staff; together, they outlined policy priorities and shared information about a number of community intervention programs that represent a shift in emphasis from safety to justice. Police policy reform, crisis intervention training (CIT), and innovations using evolving technology were shared, leading to questions discussed by the panel.

The discussion continued when preliminary results of a stakeholder feedback initiative were shared. The meeting was led by OMH Commissioner Sullivan, and OASAS Commissioner Cunningham was an active participant. The group is refining its core principles and is working toward proposals for pilot or demonstration programs. It will be interesting to see what the various members put on the table at the next meeting in response to Commissioner Sullivan’s call for ideas.

Look for additional alerts breaking down the task force meetings and tracking the evolution of community crisis intervention trends and developments in New York State.  

If you have any questions regarding the content of this alert, please contact Keith Brennan, of counsel, at kbrennan@barclaydamon.com, or another member of the firm’s Health & Human Services Providers or Health Care Controversies Teams.