Transfer for emergency detention and warning of dangerousness

What it does

Summary by the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Legislature's nonpartisan drafting office. It's their wording, not ours.

Generally, this bill prohibits the transfer of an individual from a hospital's emergency department for emergency detention until a hospital employee or medical staff member determines the transfer is medically appropriate. The bill also specifies the actions that satisfy the duty to warn of the dangerousness of a person, and provides immunity from civil and criminal liability for actions taken in good faith to warn of dangerousness.

Transportation to detention facility Under current law, a law enforcement officer or certain other persons may take an individual into custody for purposes of emergency detention if the officer or other person has cause to believe that the individual is mentally ill, drug dependent, or developmentally disabled, and that the individual shows any of the following: 1) a substantial probability of physical harm to himself or herself; 2) a substantial probability of physical harm to other persons; 3) a substantial probability of physical impairment or injury to himself or herself due to impaired judgment; or 4) due to mental illness, the inability to satisfy certain basic needs. The individual may not be detained by the officer or other person and the facility for more than a total of 72 hours after the individual is taken into custody for the purposes of emergency detention. The county department of community programs must approve the need for detention and may not do so unless a psychiatrist, psychologist, or other mental health professional has performed a crisis assessment on the individual and agrees with the need for detention and the county department believes the individual will not voluntarily consent to evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment. Under the bill, if an individual is in a hospital's emergency department, the law enforcement officer or other person may not transport the individual for detention until a hospital employee or medical staff member who is treating the individual determines that the transfer of the individual to the detention facility is medically appropriate.

Who's behind it

23 lawmakers are its authors⁠. 13 are Republicans and 10 are Democrats.

6 more lawmakers signed on in support⁠.