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1995 SESSION

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HB 1960 Involuntary commitment.

Introduced by: Jay W. DeBoer | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY:

Involuntary commitment. Provides that the standard for issuing emergency custody orders and temporary detention orders is probable cause that the individual meets the commitment criteria and is incapable of or unwilling to volunteer for treatment. The relevant community service board staff or its designee will conduct in-person prescreening evaluations for all individuals for whom temporary detention orders are requested prior to the issuance of such an order. No fees may be charged by the CSBs for this service. A community services board designee is an examiner able to provide an independent examination of the person, who is not related by blood or marriage to the person who has no financial interest in the detaining or admitting hospital and, except for employees of state hospitals, is not employed by the detaining or admitting hospital. The community services board employees will determine the facility of temporary detention and the insurance status of the person. The Board of Medical Assistance Services will establish a reasonable rate per day of inpatient care for temporary detention. Hospitals will be allowed to release a patient prior to the commitment hearing if the patient no longer meets the detention criteria and does not present an imminent danger to self or others. The preliminary and commitment hearings have been combined into one hearing and the fees for participating professionals have been adjusted to reflect this change. Persons other than law-enforcement officers may transport committed patients. The person who is the subject of the commitment hearing must be given a written and verbal explanation of the involuntary commitment process and its statutory protections. Petitioners are encouraged but not required to testify at the commitment hearing and the person shall not be released solely because the petitioner fails to attend or testify. A tape or other audio recording of the hearing must be made, submitted to the clerk of the appropriate district court, and retained in a confidential file for the sole purpose of documenting and answer questions concerning the judge's conduct of the hearing. The thumbprint requirement for firearms checks is removed (because this requirement is not workable, e.g., most often there is no one at the site of the commitment hearing who is trained in fingerprinting). However, the clerk will still forward a copy of the involuntary commitment order to the Central Criminal Records Exchange for firearms transaction record check. Special justices appointed on or after January 1, 1996, must complete a training program prescribed by the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court. Adult care residences must accept back residents who are temporarily detained but not involuntarily committed. The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission's two-year study of the involuntary commitment process (House Document No. 8, 1995) initiated this bill.


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