SB 17-207 Summary

• Establishes behavioral health crises as health care issues and prohibits using jails or lockups as placement for individuals on emergency 72-hour mental health holds who have not been charged with or convicted of crimes

• Creates a statewide coordinated behavioral health crisis response system with crisis walk-in centers, acute treatment units, crisis stabilization units, and mobile response units available within two hours statewide by January 1, 2018

• Expands "intervening professional" authority to include licensed clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists, professional counselors, and advanced practice nurses to invoke 72-hour emergency holds, in addition to peace officers and professional persons

• Allows emergency medical services facilities to accept individuals on emergency holds when designated crisis facilities are unavailable, and requires emergency medical services facilities to submit annual aggregate reports on behavioral health crisis patients

• Appropriates $7,086,280 from the marijuana tax cash fund for fiscal year 2017-18 to support behavioral health crisis services ($4,070,318) and criminal justice diversion programs ($2,960,000)