Text of IL SB 3138 (2026)

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 SB3138 Introduced 2/2/2026, by Sen. Sara Feigenholtz SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: 405 ILCS 49/5 Amends the Children's Mental Health Act. In provisions concerning the Children's Mental Health Partnership, makes changes to the Partnership's list of duties to include (i) reviewing or facilitating needs assessments (rather than conducting research assessments) to better understand the challenges and gaps of programs, services, and policies related to children's mental health; (ii) monitoring policy development related to children's mental health in Illinois at the local, State, and federal level; and (iii) regularly reviewing aggregate and de-identified data on the need for children's behavioral health services in Illinois that is collected by the Behavioral Health Care and Ongoing Navigation (BEACON) portal to ensure that system transformation can continue to be driven by data. Provides that the Partnership's membership shall include public members who reflect a diversity of sexual orientation; and that all Partnership members shall serve without compensation and with no entitlement to reimbursement for expenses incurred in the performance of their duties. Removes a provision permitting the Partnership to convene study groups. Expands the membership of the adjunct council to include up to 10 youth aged 16 to 25 (rather than up to 6 youth aged 14 to 25) and up to 4 (rather than a minimum of 4) representatives of 4 different community-based organizations that focus on youth mental health. Makes other changes. LRB104 20025 KTG 33476 b A BILL FOR SB3138LRB104 20025 KTG 33476 b 1 AN ACT concerning mental health. 2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 3represented in the General Assembly: 4 Section 5. The Children's Mental Health Act is amended by 5changing Section 5 as follows: 6 (405 ILCS 49/5) 7 Sec. 5. Children's Mental Health Partnership; Children's 8Mental Health Plan. 9 (a) The Children's Mental Health Partnership (hereafter 10referred to as "the Partnership") created under Public Act 1193-495 and continued under Public Act 102-899 shall advise 12State agencies and the Children's Behavioral Health 13Transformation Initiative on designing and implementing 14short-term and long-term strategies to provide comprehensive 15and coordinated services for children from birth to age 25 and 16their families with the goal of addressing children's mental 17health needs across a full continuum of care, including social 18determinants of health, prevention, early identification, and 19treatment. The recommended strategies shall build upon the 20recommendations in the Children's Mental Health Plan of 2022 21and may include, but are not limited to, recommendations 22regarding the following: 23 (1) Increasing public awareness on issues connected to SB3138- 2 -LRB104 20025 KTG 33476 b 1 children's mental health and wellness to decrease stigma, 2 promote acceptance, and strengthen the ability of 3 children, families, and communities to access supports. 4 (2) Coordination of programs, services, and policies 5 across child-serving State agencies to best monitor and 6 assess spending, as well as foster innovation of adaptive 7 or new practices. 8 (3) Funding and resources for children's mental health 9 prevention, early identification, and treatment across 10 child-serving State agencies. 11 (4) Review Facilitation of research on best practices 12 and model programs and dissemination of this information 13 to State policymakers, practitioners, and the general 14 public. 15 (5) Monitoring programs, services, and policies 16 addressing children's mental health and wellness. 17 (6) Growing, retaining, diversifying, and supporting 18 the child-serving workforce, with special emphasis on 19 professional development around child and family mental 20 health and wellness services. 21 (7) Supporting the design, implementation, and 22 evaluation of a quality-driven children's mental health 23 system of care across all child services that prevents 24 mental health concerns and mitigates trauma. 25 (8) Improving the system to more effectively meet the 26 emergency and residential placement needs for all children SB3138- 3 -LRB104 20025 KTG 33476 b 1 with severe mental and behavioral challenges. 2 (b) The Partnership shall have the responsibility of 3developing and updating the Children's Mental Health Plan and 4advising the relevant State agencies on implementation of the 5Plan. The Children's Mental Health Partnership shall be 6comprised of the following members: 7 (1) The Governor or the Governor's his or her 8 designee. 9 (2) The Attorney General or the Attorney General's his 10 or her designee. 11 (3) The Secretary of the Department of Human Services 12 or the Secretary's his or her designee. 13 (4) The State Superintendent of Education or the State 14 Superintendent's his or her designee. 15 (5) The Director of the Department of Children and 16 Family Services or the Director's his or her designee. 17 (6) The Director of the Department of Healthcare and 18 Family Services or the Director's his or her designee. 19 (7) The Director of the Department of Public Health or 20 the Director's his or her designee. 21 (8) The Director of the Department of Juvenile Justice 22 or the Director's his or her designee. 23 (9) The Secretary of Early Childhood or the 24 Secretary's his or her designee. 25 (10) The Director of the Criminal Justice Information 26 Authority or the Director's his or her designee. SB3138- 4 -LRB104 20025 KTG 33476 b 1 (11) One member of the General Assembly appointed by 2 the Speaker of the House. 3 (12) One member of the General Assembly appointed by 4 the President of the Senate. 5 (13) One member of the General Assembly appointed by 6 the Minority Leader of the Senate. 7 (14) One member of the General Assembly appointed by 8 the Minority Leader of the House. 9 (15) Up to 25 representatives from the public 10 reflecting a diversity of age, sexual orientation, gender 11 identity, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and 12 geographic location, to be appointed by the Governor. 13 Those public members appointed under this paragraph must 14 include, but are not limited to: 15 (A) a family member or individual with lived 16 experience in the children's mental health system; 17 (B) a child advocate; 18 (C) a community mental health expert, 19 practitioner, or provider; 20 (D) a representative of a statewide association 21 representing a majority of hospitals in the State; 22 (E) an early childhood expert or practitioner; 23 (F) a representative from the K-12 school system; 24 (G) a representative from the health care sector; 25 (H) a substance use prevention expert or 26 practitioner, or a representative of a statewide SB3138- 5 -LRB104 20025 KTG 33476 b 1 association representing community-based mental health 2 substance use disorder treatment providers in the 3 State; 4 (I) a violence prevention expert or practitioner; 5 (J) a representative from the juvenile justice 6 system; 7 (K) a school social worker; and 8 (L) a representative of a statewide organization 9 representing pediatricians. 10 (16) Two co-chairs appointed by the Governor, one 11 being a representative from the public and one being the 12 Director of the Department of Public Health or the 13 Director's designee. 14 The public co-chair is included among the 25 public 15representatives appointed under paragraph (15), and the 16Director of Public Health (or the Director's designee) serving 17as co-chair is the same individual listed under paragraph (7). 18 The members appointed by the Governor shall be appointed 19for 4-year terms 4 years with the one opportunity for 20reappointment, except as otherwise provided for in this 21subsection. Members who were appointed by the Governor and are 22serving on January 1, 2023 (the effective date of Public Act 23102-899) shall maintain their appointment until the term of 24their appointment has expired. For new appointments made 25pursuant to Public Act 102-899, members shall be appointed for 26one-year, 2-year, or 4-year terms, as determined by the SB3138- 6 -LRB104 20025 KTG 33476 b 1Governor, with no more than 9 of the Governor's new or existing 2appointees serving the same term. Those new appointments 3serving a one-year or 2-year term may be appointed to 2 4additional 4-year terms. If a vacancy occurs in the 5Partnership membership, the vacancy shall be filled in the 6same manner as the original appointment for the remainder of 7the term. 8 The Partnership shall be convened no later than January 931, 2023 to discuss the changes in Public Act 102-899. 10 The members of the Partnership shall serve without 11compensation but may be entitled to reimbursement for all 12necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their 13official duties as members of the Partnership from funds 14appropriated for that purpose. 15 The Partnership may convene and appoint special committees 16or study groups to operate under the direction of the 17Partnership. Persons appointed to such special committees or 18study groups shall only receive reimbursement for reasonable 19expenses. 20 (b-5) The Partnership shall include an adjunct council 21comprised of up to 10 no more than 6 youth aged 16 14 to 25 and 22up to 4 representatives of 4 different community-based 23organizations that focus on youth mental health. Of the 24community-based organizations that focus on youth mental 25health, one of the community-based organizations shall be led 26by an LGBTQ-identified person, one of the community-based SB3138- 7 -LRB104 20025 KTG 33476 b 1organizations shall be led by a person of color, and one of the 2community-based organizations shall be led by a woman. Of the 3representatives appointed to the council from the 4community-based organizations, at least one representative 5shall be LGBTQ-identified, at least one representative shall 6be a person of color, and at least one representative shall be 7a woman. The council members shall be appointed by the Chair of 8the Partnership and shall reflect the racial, gender identity, 9sexual orientation, ability, socioeconomic, ethnic, and 10geographic diversity of the State, including rural, suburban, 11and urban appointees. The council shall make recommendations 12to the Partnership regarding youth mental health, including, 13but not limited to, identifying barriers to youth feeling 14supported by and empowered by the system of mental health and 15treatment providers, barriers perceived by youth in accessing 16mental health services, gaps in the mental health system, 17available resources in schools, including youth's perceptions 18and experiences with outreach personnel, agency websites, and 19informational materials, methods to destigmatize mental health 20services, and how to improve State policy concerning student 21mental health. The mental health system may include services 22for substance use disorders and addiction. The council shall 23meet at least 4 times annually. 24 (c) (Blank). 25 (d) The Illinois Children's Mental Health Partnership has 26the following powers and duties: SB3138- 8 -LRB104 20025 KTG 33476 b 1 (1) Reviewing or facilitating needs Conducting 2 research assessments to better understand the challenges 3 determine the needs and gaps of programs, services, and 4 policies related to that touch children's mental health. 5 (2) Monitoring policy development related to 6 children's mental health in Illinois at the local, State, 7 and federal level, especially regarding interagency 8 collaboration, varying modes of mental health services 9 delivery, and considering Developing policy statements for 10 interagency cooperation to cover all aspects of mental 11 health delivery, including social determinants of health, 12 prevention, early identification, and treatment. 13 (3) Raising awareness about Recommending policies and 14 providing information on effective programs for delivery 15 of mental health services. 16 (4) Promoting Using funding from federal, State, or 17 philanthropic partners, to fund pilot programs or research 18 activities to resource innovative practices by 19 organizational partners that will address children's 20 mental health. However, the Partnership may not provide 21 direct services. 22 (4.1) Working The Partnership shall work with 23 community networks and the Children's Behavioral Health 24 Transformation Initiative team to implement a community 25 needs assessment, that will raise awareness of gaps in 26 existing community-based services for youth. SB3138- 9 -LRB104 20025 KTG 33476 b 1 (5) Submitting an annual report, on or before December 2 15 30 of each year, to the Governor and the General 3 Assembly on the progress of the Plan, any recommendations 4 regarding State policies, laws, or rules necessary to 5 fulfill the purposes of the Act, and any additional 6 recommendations regarding mental or behavioral health that 7 the Partnership deems necessary. 8 (6) (Blank). 9 (7) Regularly reviewing aggregate and de-identified 10 data on the need for children's behavioral health services 11 in Illinois that is collected by the Behavioral Health 12 Care and Ongoing Navigation (BEACON) portal to ensure that 13 system transformation can continue to be driven by data. 14 The Partnership may designate a fiscal and administrative 15agent that can accept funds to carry out its duties as outlined 16in this Section. 17 The Department of Public Health shall provide technical 18and administrative support for the Partnership. 19 (e) (Blank). The Partnership may accept monetary gifts or 20grants from the federal government or any agency thereof, from 21any charitable foundation or professional association, or from 22any reputable source for implementation of any program 23necessary or desirable to carry out the powers and duties as 24defined under this Section. 25 (f) On or before January 1, 2027, the Partnership shall 26submit recommendations to the Governor and General Assembly SB3138- 10 -LRB104 20025 KTG 33476 b 1that includes recommended updates to the Act to reflect the 2current mental health landscape in this State. 3(Source: P.A. 103-154, eff. 6-30-23; 103-594, eff. 6-25-24; 4103-885, eff. 8-9-24; 104-417, eff. 8-15-25.)