S-0542.3

SENATE BILL 5720

BySenators Dhingra, Wagoner, and Kuderer

AN ACT Relating to the involuntary treatment act; amending RCW 71.05.010, 71.05.012, 71.05.025, 71.05.026, 71.05.027, 71.05.030, 71.05.040, 71.05.050, 71.05.100, 71.05.132, 71.05.150, 71.05.150, 71.05.153, 71.05.153, 71.05.160, 71.05.170, 71.05.180, 71.05.190, 71.05.195, 71.05.201, 71.05.210, 71.05.210, 71.05.212, 71.05.214, 71.05.215, 71.05.217, 71.05.230, 71.05.235, 71.05.280, 71.05.290, 71.05.300, 71.05.310, 71.05.320, 71.05.320, 71.05.380, 71.05.445, 71.05.455, 71.05.457, 71.05.458, 71.05.525, 71.05.530, 71.05.585, 71.05.720, 71.05.740, 71.05.745, 71.05.750, 71.05.760, 71.34.010, 71.34.020, 71.34.305, 71.34.310, 71.34.355, 71.34.365, 71.34.410, 71.34.420, 71.34.500, 71.34.600, 71.34.650, 71.34.700, 71.34.700, 71.34.710, 71.34.710, 71.34.720, 71.34.720, 71.34.740, 71.34.740, 71.34.750, 71.34.780, 71.34.780, and 2.30.010; reenacting and amending RCW 71.05.020, 71.05.120, 71.05.240, 71.05.240, 71.05.590, 71.05.590, 71.34.730, and 71.34.750; adding new sections to chapter 71.05 RCW; adding new sections to chapter 71.34 RCW; recodifying RCW 71.05.525; repealing RCW 71.05.360 and 71.34.370; providing an effective date; and providing an expiration date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 71.05.010 and 2016 sp.s. c 29 s 203 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The provisions of this chapter apply to persons who are eighteen years of age or older and are intended by the legislature:

(a) To protect the health and safety of persons suffering from ((mental disorders and substance use))behavioral health disorders and to protect public safety through use of the parens patriae and police powers of the state;

(b) To prevent inappropriate, indefinite commitment of ((mentally disordered persons and persons with substance use disorders))persons living with behavioral health disorders and to eliminate legal disabilities that arise from such commitment;

(c) To provide prompt evaluation and timely and appropriate treatment of persons with serious ((mental disorders and substance use))behavioral health disorders;

(d) To safeguard individual rights;

(e) To provide continuity of care for persons with serious ((mental disorders and substance use))behavioral health disorders;

(f) To encourage the full use of all existing agencies, professional personnel, and public funds to prevent duplication of services and unnecessary expenditures; and

(g) To encourage, whenever appropriate, that services be provided within the community.

(2) When construing the requirements of this chapter the court must focus on the merits of the petition, except where requirements have been totally disregarded, as provided in In re C.W., 147 Wn.2d 259, 281 (2002). A presumption in favor of deciding petitions on their merits furthers both public and private interests because the mental and physical well-being of individuals as well as public safety may be implicated by the decision to release an individual and discontinue his or her treatment.

Sec. 2. RCW 71.05.012 and 1997 c 112 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

It is the intent of the legislature to enhance continuity of care for persons with serious ((mental))behavioral health disorders that can be controlled or stabilized in a less restrictive alternative commitment. Within the guidelines stated in In re LaBelle 107 Wn. 2d 196 (1986), the legislature intends to encourage appropriate interventions at a point when there is the best opportunity to restore the person to or maintain satisfactory functioning.

For persons with a prior history or pattern of repeated hospitalizations or law enforcement interventions due to decompensation, the consideration of prior ((mental)) history is particularly relevant in determining whether the person would receive, if released, such care as is essential for his or her health or safety.

Therefore, the legislature finds that for persons who are currently under a commitment order, a prior history of decompensation leading to repeated hospitalizations or law enforcement interventions should be given great weight in determining whether a new less restrictive alternative commitment should be ordered.

Sec. 3. RCW 71.05.020 and 2018 c 305 s 1, 2018 c 291 s 1, and 2018 c 201 s 3001 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:

The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(1) "Admission" or "admit" means a decision by a physician, physician assistant, or psychiatric advanced registered nurse practitioner that a person should be examined or treated as a patient in a hospital;

(2) "Alcoholism" means a disease, characterized by a dependency on alcoholic beverages, loss of control over the amount and circumstances of use, symptoms of tolerance, physiological or psychological withdrawal, or both, if use is reduced or discontinued, and impairment of health or disruption of social or economic functioning;

(3) "Antipsychotic medications" means that class of drugs primarily used to treat serious manifestations of mental illness associated with thought disorders, which includes, but is not limited to atypical antipsychotic medications;

(4) "Approved substance use disorder treatment program" means a program for persons with a substance use disorder provided by a treatment program certified by the department as meeting standards adopted under chapter 71.24 RCW;

(5) "Attending staff" means any person on the staff of a public or private agency having responsibility for the care and treatment of a patient;

(6) "Authority" means the Washington state health care authority;

(7) (("Chemical dependency"))"Substance use disorder" means:

(a) Alcoholism;

(b) Drug addiction; or

(c) Dependence on alcohol and one or more psychoactive chemicals, as the context requires;

(8) "Chemical dependency professional" means a person certified as a chemical dependency professional by the department under chapter 18.205 RCW;

(9) "Commitment" means the determination by a court that a person should be detained for a period of either evaluation or treatment, or both, in an inpatient or a less restrictive setting;

(10) "Conditional release" means a revocable modification of a commitment, which may be revoked upon violation of any of its terms;

(11) "Crisis stabilization unit" means a short-term facility or a portion of a facility licensed or certified by the department under RCW 71.24.035, such as an evaluation and treatment facility or a hospital, which has been designed to assess, diagnose, and treat individuals experiencing an acute crisis without the use of long-term hospitalization;

(12) "Custody" means involuntary detention under the provisions of this chapter or chapter 10.77 RCW, uninterrupted by any period of unconditional release from commitment from a facility providing involuntary care and treatment;

(13) "Department" means the department of health;

(14) "Designated crisis responder" means a mental health professional appointed by the county, an entity appointed by the county, or the behavioral health organization to perform the duties specified in this chapter;

(15) "Detention" or "detain" means the lawful confinement of a person, under the provisions of this chapter;

(16) "Developmental disabilities professional" means a person who has specialized training and three years of experience in directly treating or working with persons with developmental disabilities and is a psychiatrist, physician assistant working with a supervising psychiatrist, psychologist, psychiatric advanced registered nurse practitioner, or social worker, and such other developmental disabilities professionals as may be defined by rules adopted by the secretary of the department of social and health services;

(17) "Developmental disability" means that condition defined in RCW 71A.10.020(5);

(18) "Director" means the director of the authority;

(19) "Discharge" means the termination of hospital medical authority. The commitment may remain in place, be terminated, or be amended by court order;

(20) "Drug addiction" means a disease, characterized by a dependency on psychoactive chemicals, loss of control over the amount and circumstances of use, symptoms of tolerance, physiological or psychological withdrawal, or both, if use is reduced or discontinued, and impairment of health or disruption of social or economic functioning;

(21) "Evaluation and treatment facility" means any facility which can p