SB16-169 Summary

• Allows persons placed on emergency mental health holds to be taken to designated facilities, emergency medical services facilities, or law enforcement facilities as alternatives based on availability and circumstances.

• Restricts law enforcement facility detention to 24 hours (excluding weekends, Sundays, and holidays), with court-ordered extensions not exceeding an additional 24 hours only if no designated facility is available and specific behavioral conditions are met.

• Requires emergency medical services facilities to assess individuals within 36 hours to determine if transfer to a designated facility is necessary for continued seventy-two-hour treatment and evaluation.

• Mandates annual reporting by emergency medical services and law enforcement facilities to the Department of Human Services regarding aggregate data on persons taken into custody or treated under this procedure, with confidentiality protections for reported information.

• Directs the state to convene stakeholder sessions by September 1, 2016, and present a comprehensive needs analysis and budget request for emergency mental health services to the legislature by January 31, 2017.