Harckham Bill Allowing Mobile Crisis Units to Use Green Lights Signed

New York State Senator Pete Harckham announced today that his bill allowing mobile crisis staff members to use a green light on their motor vehicles when engaging in an emergency operation or response has been signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer requested that the green light legislation be introduced, the two legislators noted, after the county had launched eight mobile crisis response teams in May 2022 as part of Project Alliance, a special initiative that grew out of the Westchester County Police Reform & Reimagining Task Force report to Governor Hochul.

As New York State seeks to increase the number of behavioral health crisis centers, trained mobile crisis response staff members will be responding to various mental, emotional and physical distress calls to prevent critical incidents. The Green Light law allows mobile crisis response staff members to equip their personal vehicles with a green emergency light and use them while responding to emergency calls. Green lights are an effective tool to alert drivers that they must pull over to allow for emergency vehicles to go by. This procedure allows for timely responses to emergency calls.

“Allowing Mental Health Crisis teams professionals in transit to use green lights on vehicles will certainly save lives,” said Harckham. “I thank Governor Hochul for signing this legislation into law and Assemblymember Magnarelli for his steadfast effort in galvanizing support for expanded behavioral health initiatives like this, which signals to residents that ‘help is on the way.’ The Green Light law promises to enhance community wellness in many ways.”

“The goal of Project Alliance is really to help first responders across Westchester to be better prepared, and able to meet the needs of the communities we all serve,” said Latimer. “This measure, shepherded to adoption by our own Senator Harckham, and Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli, will serve to help us get to people in crisis faster and more safely.”

Westchester County Department of Community Mental Health Commissioner Michael Orth said, “Since the inception of this model, we have worked to reinforce that our Mobile Crisis Response Teams serve our community as true first responders. That means they are prepared to help when called and arrive as quickly as safety allows. By adding the use of green emergency lights to the toolkits they have, they will be better able to meet the needs of the people of Westchester.”

Westchester County Department of Community Mental Health Deputy Commissioner Joseph Glazer said, “I am so appreciative of everyone who helped bring this idea to fruition. Senator Harckham and his staff, Assemblyman Magnarelli and his office, our colleagues at NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH) and the Governor’s office, and our own Westchester County intergovernmental team who all worked together to make this the law in New York State. Across Westchester and our entire state, access to these emergency lights will further enhance our ability to create seamless, efficient systems to address behavioral health crises.”

In its support memorandum for the original legislation, the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) noted, “Many counties have created and invested in community based mobile crisis teams to help individuals experiencing a mental health or substance abuse crisis. These teams are also critical not only in rapid response for a patient, but also to assist in hospital emergency room diversion.”