California’s effort to make 988 a fully functional, statewide alternative to 911 is lagging, leaving some callers routed to out-of-state counselors while local crisis centers wait for promised funding and technical approvals. The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services has delayed a key authorization agreement for 9-1-1-to-988 integration, now expected in the first quarter of 2026.
By January, only one of the state’s 12 crisis centers had been piloted for full 9-1-1 routing, and fewer than half of texts and chats from Californians are answered by in-state counselors. Wellspace Health CEO Dr. Jonathan Porteus warned, "If you take that system away or shrink it or trim it, you are creating a cascade of problems for all the other systems that we’re actually protecting," as reported by The Sacramento Bee.
What Is Behind the Hold-Up?
The state's own AB 988 five-year blueprint makes clear that wiring 9-1-1 into 988 and standardizing crisis operations across 58 counties is a massive undertaking involving new technology, rules, and staffing. California Health & Human Services lays out the roadmap: statewide interoperability, shared staffing and training standards, and a 988 State Suicide and Behavioral Health Crisis Services Fund. That fund is financed by a telecom surcharge that pulled in roughly $44.3 million in its first year.
According to The Sacramento Bee, crisis centers have requested more than $400,000 in reimbursements over the last two-and-a-half years. They say only three providers have actually been paid, while six reimbursement filings are still pending. The Bee also reports that the state has paid only a fraction of an initial technology contract and that the monthly phone surcharge dropped this year from eight cents to five cents per line. Providers argue that these moves undercut plans to grow text and chat capacity. Local leaders say slower payments and smaller per-line revenue make it much tougher to hire counselors and maintain round-the-clock coverage.
What It Means for Callers
National demand for crisis services has exploded. The 988 network handled nearly 5 million contacts last year, a jump that advocates say is stretching centers nationwide to their limits. AFSP points to that surge and is urging states to shore up funding and infrastructure. 988 Lifeline highlights another gap: even the best call center is not enough if there are no coordinated local response options beyond a phone line.
When in-state counselors are not available, callers can be routed to out-of-state centers or back into systems that default to 911 and emergency rooms. Those are exactly the outcomes AB 988 was written to avoid.
AB 988 and the Policy Stakes
AB 988, the Miles Hall Lifeline and Suicide Prevention Act, was authored by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan after the 2019 death of Miles Hall. The law charges state agencies with building the standards, funding, and technical connections so that 988 can function like 911 for behavioral health crises.
Beyond creating the dedicated 988 fund, the statute tasks Cal OES with verifying the technology that allows calls to transfer between 988 centers and 911 public safety answering points. It also requires appointing a 988 system director and a technical advisory board to steer the rollout.
Advocates say there is still time to rescue the project if the authorization agreement lands on the new timetable and reimbursements finally start moving. But they warn that the clock is tight as demand keeps rising. For now, local centers say they will keep answering calls, even as they stress that long waits and patchwork routing are a dangerous status quo for people reaching out in crisis.
