On Monday, the House Health, Welfare and Institutions subcommittee on Behavioral Health approved three of the five bills relating to mandatory outpatient treatment that were assigned to that subcommittee. Delegate Hope reported to the subcommittee that his bills had all been approved by the “Deeds Commission,” which was in fact not true. Nonetheless, the subcommittee approved:
HB 699 (Hope) revises the process for revision of a forced treatment order. Includes language of “in determining the appropriateness of OT, the court may consider the person’s material non-compliance,” and that MOT remains in effect until the date specified in the order or until the order is rescinded.
HB 700 (Hope) eliminates the requirement that a person must agree to cooperate in the treatment.
HB 713 (Hope) extends the maximum time period for a forced treatment order, from 90 to 180 days and creates a process for judicial review of a person’s compliance with the forced treatment order.
The Full House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions approved the three bills this morning. This morning, Delegate Price did point out that the bills had not been approved by the Deeds Commission but rather were the product of a work group. As noted before, that work group did not have any consumers of mental health services on it.
Delegate Price voted against the bills.
The subcommittee recommended the following bills to carry over until 2021, and the full committee agreed:
HB 1026 (Adams) removes the requirement that a person must have a history of noncompliance before a mandatory order may be issued.
HB 702 (Hope) requires a Community Services Board to demonstrate that it made efforts to assist an individual to comply with a forced treatment order.
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