(The Center Square) – North Carolina’s involuntary commitment system is part of a mental health reform package chamber leaders say will enhance public safety.
The proposal piggybacks Iryna’s Law, the proposal signed into law in October, that followed the death of Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light rail. The suspect in the stabbing had a troubling sequence in the state judicial system for more than a decade directly tied to his mental health.
Improve IVC Process and Enhance Public Safety, known also as House Bill 1104, passed 100-10. The legislation is authored by Rep. Dr. Timothy Reeder, R-Pitt, an emergency physician with ECU Health and an educator at the Brody School of Medicine.
Speaker Destin Hall said, “Recent tragedies like the preventable murder of Iryna Zarutska have exposed serious failures in our mental health and public safety systems that put all North Carolinians at risk. I’m proud of the work the committee has done to move this legislation forward. These changes will make our state safer by keeping dangerous criminals with mental illnesses off the streets and getting them the care they need before they can harm others.”
The Senate is next up on the bill’s path to becoming law. They’ll consider that the proposal:
• Gives courts better information on release decisions. The goal is keeping dangerous individuals off the streets.
• Expands outpatient treatment. The goal is more people getting care before a mental health crisis that could threaten themselves or others.
• Strengthens compliance and accountability. With longer outpatient periods and individualized treatment plans, there is more monitoring and clear consequences for noncompliance.
• Increases access to evaluations and crisis care. In place will be telehealth strategy for involuntary commitment exams, and improved training for examiners.
• Addresses psychiatric bed and workforce shortages. The bill requires plans to expand capacity, staffing and partnerships with private providers.
• Makes an effort to halt the cycle. Reeder’s bill seeks solutions for the individuals who are repeatedly going between the jail, involuntary commitment, hospitalization and release into the communities.
• Addresses modernization. The bill will require coordination of real-time psychiatric bed tracking, with expansion of information shared to providers and lawmen.
• Creates comprehensive reviews. The barriers to care, evaluation of hospital operations, improvement of crisis response practices, and recommended long-term involuntary commitment reforms are also part of the bill language.
The 18-member House Select Committee on Involuntary Commitment and Public Safety was established by Hall on Oct. 2. Reeder and Rep. Hugh Blackwell, R-Burke, were cochairmen. Only Rep. Dudley Greene, R-Avery, did not vote on Wednesday; all 17 others were in favor, including one independent formerly a Democrat and five Democrats.
Others on the panel included Republican Reps. Dr. Grant Campbell of Cabarrus County, Donny Lambeth of Forsyth County, Charles Miller of Brunswick County, Larry Potts of Davidson County, Reese Pyrtle of Rockingham County, Heather Rhyne of Lincoln County, Carson Smith of Pender County, Diane Wheatley of Cumberland County and Donna White of Johnston County; Democratic Reps. Terry Brown of Mecklenburg County, Tracy Clark of Guilford County, Ya Liu of Wake County, Charles Smith of Cumberland County, and Shelly Willingham of Edgecombe County; and then Democrat and now independent Rep. Carla Cunningham of Mecklenburg County.
The 10 voting against the measure were Democratic Reps. Amber Baker of Forsyth County; Mary Belk and Julia Greenfield of Mecklenburg County; Deb Butler of New Hanover County; Maria Cervania, Abe Jones and Phil Rubin of Wake County; Amanda Cook and Pricey Harrison of Guilford County; and Marcia Morey of Durham County.
