Committee advances bill allowing crisis holds for people with neurocognitive disorders

Sen. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, told the Senate Health and Welfare Committee that Senate Bill 1120 would allow law enforcement to place a limited crisis hold on people with neurocognitive disorders when their continued liberty poses an imminent danger to themselves or others. "We have somebody with Huntington's, and they are a danger to self and others," Wintrow said, describing a case that prompted the change.

The bill is a modification of legislation the committee considered last year. The sponsor said the change replaces language reading that a person "is likely to injure" with language familiar to policing — that a person's "continued liberty poses an imminent danger" — to address liability concerns raised by some law enforcement agencies.

Wintrow said the change is intended only to alter wording so police feel comfortable using the crisis hold as a last resort. She noted that the bill retains a separate standard for physicians placing crisis holds in hospitals: the text in section 5 still uses the phrase "likely to injure themselves or others," a standard she said is more familiar to medical professionals.

Sen. Ziderfeld asked for an example of the "continued liberty poses an imminent danger" standard. Wintrow replied that a police officer responding to someone throwing scalding coffee at shelter residents could reasonably conclude the person's continued liberty would "continue to pose a threat" if not taken into custody.

The committee moved, seconded and approved a motion to send Senate Bill 1120 with a do-pass recommendation. The committee recorded the approval by voice vote; individual yea/nay votes were not recorded in the transcript.

The bill, as discussed, aims to give police an option other than arrest when a person with a neurocognitive disorder presents what officers perceive as an immediate threat; it does not change the separate hospital standard for physician-initiated crisis holds.