HB 849 was sent to the Senate after a 173-30 vote and looks to use funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to bolster the state’s behavioral health workforce, improve its public safety and criminal justice systems and more.
Of the funds, the majority — $34 million — will be allocated to behavioral health workforce and retention, while another $32 will be used to address criminal justice and public safety programs through grants from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, the report said.