What's happening
This bill updates definitions and procedures for involuntary admission and care of people with developmental disabilities, emphasizing risk of harm.
Why it matters
Narrows involuntary admission criteria. by requiring not just impaired judgment and need for care, but also a “real and present risk of substantial physical harm” to self or others, raising the threshold for state intervention.
Shifts decision-making authority. for involuntary admission from the director of a school to the commissioner, potentially increasing oversight and standardization in the process.
Specifies professional qualifications. for admission certification, requiring evaluation by either two physicians or one physician and one certified psychologist, which may enhance the rigor and reliability of assessments.
Could impact civil liberties and service access. for people with developmental disabilities, as the new criteria may reduce unnecessary or inappropriate institutionalizations, but could also make it harder to secure involuntary care when truly needed.
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Who cares
People with developmental disabilities facing involuntary admission
The bill would require a real and present risk of substantial physical harm to themselves or others in addition to the existing criteria for involuntary care and treatment.
Office for People with Developmental Disabilities
The bill would shift authority to receive and retain people for involuntary care in a school from the school director to the commissioner.
Directors of schools providing residential care
Directors would no longer hold the statutory authority to receive and retain residents under this involuntary admission provision.
Examining physicians and certified psychologists
The added physical-harm risk requirement would change the standard relevant to their certifications supporting involuntary admission.
Headline styles
Update Involuntary Admission Rules
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Signed chap.198
- Delivered to governor
- Returned to assembly
- Passed senateVote 62–0
- 3rd reading cal.2172
- Substituted for S6154
- Referred to rules
- Delivered to senate
- Passed assembly
- Ordered to third reading rules cal.404
- Rules report cal.404
- Reported
Show 3 earlier actions
- Reported referred to rules
- Reported referred to codes
- Referred to mental health
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Tighten Involuntary Admission Rules
Senate Floor Calendar · Sponsor Robert Ortt
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
7604
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 3, 2017
Introduced by M. of A. GUNTHER -- (at request of the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities) -- read once and referred to the Committee on Mental Health
AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to the definition of "in need of involuntary care and treatment" and to whom an application for such admission is made
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The third undesignated paragraph of section 15.01 of the mental hygiene law, as renumbered by chapter 978 of the laws of 1977, is amended to read as follows:
"in need of involuntary care and treatment" means that a person is in need of in-patient care and treatment as a resident in a school, that such care and treatment is essential to his or her welfare, and that his or her judgment is so impaired that he or she is unable to understand the need for such care and treatment and that he or she poses a real and present risk of substantial physical harm to himself or herself or others.
§ 2. Subsection (a) of section 15.27 of the mental hygiene law, as amended by chapter 37 of the laws of 2011, is amended to read as follows:
(a) [The director of a school] The commissioner may receive and retain [therein] in a school, as a resident any person alleged to have a developmental disability and be in need of involuntary care and treatment upon the certificates of two examining physicians or of one examining physician and one certified psychologist, accompanied by an application for the admission of such person. The examination may be conducted jointly but each examiner shall execute a separate certificate.
§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10120-02-7
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.