This bill addresses provisions related to behavioral health.
This bill:
AI-generated summary, not yet reviewed by Better Utah staff. Please consult the bill text.
This bill makes a broad set of changes to how Utah organizes and funds its behavioral health system. It shifts administration of the Governor's Suicide Prevention Fund from the governor's office to the Office of Substance Use and Mental Health, which also gains authority to appoint the statewide suicide prevention coordinator, and it creates a new community-based peer support specialist grant program that would award grants to organizations providing peer recovery support, with priority given to areas facing shortages of mental health providers. It also expands eligibility for admission to the Utah State Hospital to include people with severe neurological disorders (not just severe mental disorders), requires the Department of Health and Human Services to build and maintain a confidential database tracking individuals who are involuntarily committed by December 2026, and renames and restructures the Utah Substance Use and Mental Health Advisory Committee into the Utah Behavioral Health Policy Review Committee, narrowing its role to an advisory body under the Behavioral Health Commission while shifting several of its former duties directly to the commission. The bill creates a new family outreach specialist position within the department to contact families after a suicide or overdose death, assist the medical examiner, and support suicide and overdose prevention efforts, and it directs a legislative working group to study and recommend whether a single statewide authority should coordinate behavioral health initiatives going forward. Finally, the bill appropriates about $115 million for fiscal year 2027 to fund these and other behavioral health programs, including crisis response and county jail reporting coordination through the commission.
Introduction
Feb 12
House Rules
House Committee
House Floor Vote
Senate Rules
Senate Committee
Senate 2nd Reading
Senate 3rd Reading
Governor
IntroductionFeb 12
House Rules
House Committee
House Floor Vote
Senate Rules
Senate Committee
Senate 2nd Reading
Senate 3rd Reading
Governor
This bill addresses provisions related to behavioral health.
This bill:
AI-generated summary, not yet reviewed by Better Utah staff. Please consult the bill text.
This bill makes a broad set of changes to how Utah organizes and funds its behavioral health system. It shifts administration of the Governor's Suicide Prevention Fund from the governor's office to the Office of Substance Use and Mental Health, which also gains authority to appoint the statewide suicide prevention coordinator, and it creates a new community-based peer support specialist grant program that would award grants to organizations providing peer recovery support, with priority given to areas facing shortages of mental health providers. It also expands eligibility for admission to the Utah State Hospital to include people with severe neurological disorders (not just severe mental disorders), requires the Department of Health and Human Services to build and maintain a confidential database tracking individuals who are involuntarily committed by December 2026, and renames and restructures the Utah Substance Use and Mental Health Advisory Committee into the Utah Behavioral Health Policy Review Committee, narrowing its role to an advisory body under the Behavioral Health Commission while shifting several of its former duties directly to the commission. The bill creates a new family outreach specialist position within the department to contact families after a suicide or overdose death, assist the medical examiner, and support suicide and overdose prevention efforts, and it directs a legislative working group to study and recommend whether a single statewide authority should coordinate behavioral health initiatives going forward. Finally, the bill appropriates about $115 million for fiscal year 2027 to fund these and other behavioral health programs, including crisis response and county jail reporting coordination through the commission.
House/ filed
House file for bills not passed
House/ strike enacting clause
Clerk of the House
House/ received fiscal note from Fiscal Analyst
House Rules Committee
LFA/ fiscal note publicly available for HB0552
Released
LFA/ fiscal note sent to sponsor for HB0552
Version Sponsor
Last updated Aug 29, 2026, 5:26 PM