PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — On the last day of the legislative session in Salem, Oregon lawmakers OK’d a 40-cent monthly phone fee to fund and expand the 988 suicide prevention hotline with bipartisan support.

The bill — which needed 18 votes to pass — got 19 in the Oregon Senate and now heads to Gov. Tina Kotek’s desk for her signature. The 19th vote was Senate Minority Leader Tim Knopp of Bend.

If Kotek signs it, as expected, House Bill 2757 will estabish the 988 Trust Fund to provide long-term, stable funding for mobile crisis intervention services.

KOIN Previous Coverage: 988 Mental Health Hotline

To do this, the state plans to use a telecom fee, similar to the 911 system, to ensure all Oregonians can receive the mental health support they need.

Oregon Behavioral Health Crisis Response System and 988

Chris Bouneff, the Executive Director of the Oregon branch of the National Association on Mental Illness, helped lead the charge in the passage of the 988 Implementation Act.

“To see that we were successful in getting people on the Democratic side of the aisle, on the Republican side of the aisle, to coalesce around this just feels like a monumental achievement,” Bouneff said. “And even moreso because we know what this is really going to do in the state of Oregon, how profound the impacts are going to be both immediately and long term.”

Dwight Holton, the CEO of Lines for Life, said the need for mental health support is growing. In a statement he called this “the most important suicide prevention policy ever to be adopted in Oregon.”

“It’s a statement of our nation, of our community, of our neighborhood, really, that it’s OK to struggle. We all struggle, and it’s OK to get help,” Holton said. “And help is always there at 988.”

In his statement, Bouneff said they “can’t wait to get this right… We need to build a system that begins with prevention and continues through crisis intervention so that we can create the community of wellness Oregonians deserve.”