# 119-s-4640: 9–8–8 Connect Act

119-s-4640, 9–8–8 Connect Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA] (D-CA); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-06-26).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4640
- As of: 2026-06-26
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-4640
- Congress: 119
- Title: 9–8–8 Connect Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-05-21
- Sponsor: Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA] (D-CA)
- Cosponsors: 5
- Policy area: Health
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-06-26

## Summary

**Creates a federal grant program to fund follow-up services for people who contact the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.** It also sets consent and privacy rules for those follow-ups and requires telecom fixes so calls and texts reliably reach 9-8-8. - People who call, text, or chat 9-8-8 and are identified as at risk would be eligible for proactive follow-up such as check-ins, outreach, coordination with mobile crisis teams, family collaboration, and referrals. Follow-up must happen only with informed consent and cannot share personally identifiable information without written consent except as required by law. - Crisis centers that are part of the national 9-8-8 network would be eligible for grants based on need and capacity. The Department of Health and Human Services would offer technical help and develop model consent and privacy standards within one year. - Telecom providers and multi-line telephone systems would face new rules so calls and texts reach 9-8-8, including FCC regulations on commercial mobile service transmission and adding 9-8-8 to the direct dialing framework with a two-year applicability window and limited exceptions. *This bill would authorize $30 million for fiscal year 2026 to carry out these provisions.*

## Cosponsors (5)

- Sen. Tillis, Thomas [R-NC] (R-NC), 2026-05-21T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN] (D-MN), 2026-05-21T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. King, Angus S., Jr. [I-ME] (I-ME), 2026-05-21T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH] (D-NH), 2026-05-21T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT] (D-CT), 2026-05-21T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Mobile carriers must route calls and texts to 9-8-8: benefit, high. If enacted, the FCC would have 270 days to write rules requiring all commercial mobile providers to transmit every call and text to 9-8-8. Carriers would have one year after the rules are issued to comply. The requirement would include calls and texts from non-service-initialized handsets that use…
- Multiline phone systems must support 9-8-8: benefit, medium. If enacted, owners and operators of multi-line phone systems would need to let people dial 9-8-8 directly starting two years after enactment. Systems installed before that date would be exempt if they cannot be configured to meet the requirement without hardware or software improvements. This chang…
- Follow-up help after 9-8-8 contacts: benefit, low. If enacted, the bill would create a federal grant program to pay crisis centers to do follow-up checks for people who directly contact 9-8-8 and are identified as at risk. Grants would go only to crisis centers in the 9-8-8 network. Follow-up calls, texts, or chats would be allowed only after the p…

## Related bills

- 119-s-5066: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026
- 119-s-1552: Living Donor Protection Act of 2025
- 119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025
- 119-s-410: Love Lives On Act of 2025
- 119-s-1816: Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2025
- 119-s-1261: CONNECT for Health Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-s-4640 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/4640)

## Related
- [119-s-5066: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5066)
- [119-s-1552: Living Donor Protection Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1552)
- [119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1241)
- [119-s-410: Love Lives On Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-410)
- [119-s-1816: Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1816)
- [119-s-1261: CONNECT for Health Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1261)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4640 (as of 2026-06-26).