The 9-8-8 Connect Act provides federal grants to suicide prevention crisis centers to follow up with people who contact the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Eligible crisis centers can use the funding to check on callers' well-being, connect them with needed services, and coordinate with family and support networks. The bill requires crisis centers to obtain people's informed consent before providing follow-up services and includes strict privacy protections ensuring that personal information cannot be shared with third parties without written permission. The legislation also directs the Federal Communications Commission to update regulations so that all cell phone calls and text messages to 9-8-8 are transmitted to crisis centers, and requires multi-line telephone systems in businesses and organizations to be configured to allow direct dialing to 9-8-8. The bill authorizes $30 million in funding for fiscal year 2026 for the grant program.
Take Action
Your position
Add a comment
to comment on this bill.
Annotate the text
Highlight any passage on the Summary or Full Text tab to attach a note. Annotations appear on the Annotations tab.