SB 86

This bill allows the Building Commission to award a grant to a hospital in Eau

Claire County, as specified in the bill, in the amount of $15,000,000 for the purpose

of expanding capacity by 22 psychiatric beds between the hospital in Eau Claire

County and a hospital in Chippewa County. Under

2019 Wisconsin Act 9

, which was

that session's biennial budget act, the Building Commission was authorized to award

moneys for a center and allowed to authorize up to $15,000,000 in general fund

supported borrowing for that purpose. Instead, this bill allows the Building

Commission to award a grant in that amount and to authorize general fund

supported borrowing, if necessary. If the grant awarded under this bill is not used

for the purpose of expanding psychiatric bed capacity, the state retains an ownership

interest in the hospital's expansion equal to the amount of the state's grant.

Emergency detention is a current law procedure for temporary involuntary

commitment of individuals who are believed to be mentally ill, drug dependent, or

developmentally disabled and who demonstrate a substantial probability of causing

harm to themselves or others or an inability to satisfy certain basic needs due to a

mental illness. The hospital that is awarded the grant under the bill must do all of

the following: 1) give preference in admissions for the beds added under the bill to

individuals who meet the criteria for emergency detention and who are from one of

the counties specified in the bill; 2) identify measures it believes will serve the needs

of residents with mental health needs, especially in reducing the burden on the

Winnebago Mental Health Institute; 3) report annually to the legislature on the

services provided with grant moneys; and 4) recognize that it is liable to repay the

grant to the state if the hospital fails to maintain continued expanded services and

expanded numbers of psychiatric beds. The bill specifies that the determination of

whether the hospital is meeting its requirement to provide expanded services must

be based on findings that at least half of the expanded psychiatric beds are available

for individuals admitted for emergency detention and that the hospital enters

agreements containing terms specified in the bill with at least two-thirds of the

specified counties.