Alabama Mental Health Task Force, established

New Alabama mental health task force

The law creates the Alabama Mental Health Task Force to study mental health care and recommend long-term improvements. Its members include lawmakers, state health officials, mental health experts, and representatives of judges, behavioral health providers, and hospitals. Appointing officials must coordinate to reflect Alabama’s racial, gender, geographic, urban/rural, and economic diversity. The group may review care gaps, staffing, training, early intervention, and effects on schools, jobs, and public safety. The Governor must call its first meeting within 30 days after passage, when members elect a chair and vice chair. State legislative and health offices must provide support. Legislative members receive legislative pay, daily allowances, and travel expenses for each meeting day they attend. Other members serve without pay but may receive necessary meeting expense reimbursements under their appointing authorities’ policies. The group must give the Secretary of State meeting notices, its membership list, and reports and other documents it produces. Its final report to the Legislature is due by November 1, 2026, and the group dissolves when it files that report.