A bill to establish guidelines for court-ordered outpatient mental health treatment advanced out of committee Wednesday with a slight change.
An amendment to Rep. Lee Denney’s bill will move its effective date to 2016.
"We opted to move the date forward a year instead of putting 'when funds are available', because it sometimes seems we put things in statute and funds are just never available," Denney said. "So this will cause it to take effect next year when — I hope — our fiscal picture's much brighter."
The House Public Health Committee approved the bill on a 6–2 vote. Rep. Doug Cox was one of two members voting nay despite the amendment putting off implementation by 18 months.
"I don't want to back ourselves into a corner and basically take at least $6.3 million off the top and lose that flexibility in a mental health budget that may or may not be great," Cox said.
House Bill 1697's estimated cost is between $6.3 million and $10.8 million dollars, but Denney said the state needs to make her bill a priority.
"We are suffering from so much mental health problems in this state. I feel like this is one thing that should rise not off the top, but to the top and receive this funding," Denney said.
The bill, which adds outpatient treatment provisions to the state’s involuntary commitment laws, has the support of the mental health department.
