Bill Text: HI HR29 | 2020 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Convening A Behavioral Health Task Force To Determine Coherent Policies And Procedures For The Timely Admission Of Behavioral Health Patients To The Hawaii State Hospital As Non-forensic Patients.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 22-2)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-10 - Referred to HSH, FIN, referral sheet 39 [HR29 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2020-HR29-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	29
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

CONVENING A behavioral health TASK FORCE TO determine coherent POLICies AND procedures for the timely admission of behavioral health patients to the HAWAII STATE HOSPITAL as non-forensic patients.

 

 

 

WHEREAS, more than twenty percent of chronically homeless persons acknowledge having a behavioral health illness; and

 

WHEREAS, over the past few years, the State has spent millions of dollars on programs such as Housing First, Rapid Rehousing, and Rent Supplement to combat homelessness; however, persons with untreated behavioral health illnesses, including substance abuse disorders, are unable to be housed through any of these programs until they have been detoxified, treated, and stabilized so that they are able to fit in with other members of the homeless population being served by the continuum of care providers; and

 

WHEREAS, the State has increased funding for outreach to the chronically homeless, including those having behavioral health issues, but despite this effort, hospital emergency rooms at facilities such as The Queen's Medical Center continue to be inundated by homeless persons having behavioral health issues; and

 

WHEREAS, if a behaviorally ill patient cannot be discharged from a hospital setting to an appropriate treatment facility, the patient either remains in the acute care facility, taking up much-needed bed space at a cost of $1,900 per day, or is discharged onto the streets, where the patient remains homeless and in need of treatment services; and

 

WHEREAS, the State recently appropriated funds for the expansion of the Hawaii State Hospital to ensure additional bed space for persons having behavioral health illnesses; however, it appears that the Department of Health intends to use these funds to create additional bed space for forensic patients transferred to the hospital pursuant to a court order; and

 

WHEREAS, Chapter 704, Hawaii Revised Statutes, sets out the procedural requirements for defendants having behavioral health issues that arise in the context of criminal cases, such as defendants whose fitness to proceed to trial or penal responsibility for the offense is in question; and

 

WHEREAS, Chapter 704, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is being used by the courts to refer forensic patients to the Hawaii State Hospital, thus disproportionately filling hospital beds and leaving fewer beds available for persons who have been discharged from hospital acute care treatment for behavioral health issues; as a result, the behaviorally ill have nowhere to go to remain detoxified and stabilized until they can gain admission to a halfway home or bridge house, or be assisted by a program such as Housing First or Rapid Rehousing; and

 

WHEREAS, even though there is a recognized need for more forensic beds at the Hawaii State Hospital, there is also an urgent need for non-forensic beds so that persons having behavioral health illness may receive treatment without having to commit a crime in order to be admitted to the hospital on a forensic basis; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2020, that the Legislature convene a Behavioral Health Task Force to determine coherent policies and procedures for the timely admission of behavioral health patients to the Hawaii State Hospital as non-forensic patients; and

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force is requested to consider whether Chapter 704, Hawaii Revised Statutes, should be amended, or whether rules, policies, or procedures can be established administratively to facilitate the creation of additional bed space for non-forensic patients; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the membership of the Behavioral Health Task Force consist of one representative from each of the following entities and that, upon convening, the members elect a chairperson from among themselves:

 

     (1)  The respective chairpersons of the Senate Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and the House Committee on Public Safety, Veterans, and Military Affairs;

 

     (2)  The respective chairpersons of the Senate and House Committees on Judiciary;

 

     (3)  The respective chairpersons of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health and the House Committee on Health;

 

     (4)  The respective chairpersons of the Senate Committee on Human Services and the House Committee on Human Services and Homelessness;

 

     (5)  The Chief Justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court or the Chief Justice's designee;

 

     (6)  One Mental Health Court judge from the First Circuit and one Mental Health Court judge or similarly situated judge from a neighbor island circuit; and

 

     (7)  The Director of the Behavioral Health Administration of the Department of Health or the Director's designee; and

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Behavioral Health Task Force is requested to submit to the Legislature a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2021; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court, and Director of Health.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Behavioral Health Task Force; Non-Forensic Patients