Senate committee backs bill to allow crisis holds for people with neurocognitive disorders

Senate Health and Welfare Committee members voted to send Senate Bill 11 20 to the full Senate with a do-pass recommendation after the bill’s sponsor proposed a language change aimed at easing law enforcement concerns.

Senator Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, told the committee the bill is a narrow update to last year’s law that created a crisis-hold process for people with neurocognitive disorders who pose a danger to themselves or others. Wintrow said some law enforcement agencies told her they were worried the statute’s wording — which used the phrase “person is likely to injure” — left officers exposed to liability. She proposed replacing that phrase with a standard tied to whether a person’s continued liberty “poses an imminent danger,” which she said is more familiar to police.

Wintrow said the change is intended only to clarify the standard for officers. She noted the bill retains the original “likely to injure themselves or others” language for health-care providers evaluating someone at a hospital under separate statutory authority.

Senator Ziderfeld asked for an example. Wintrow described an incident at a homeless shelter involving a person with Huntington’s disease who allegedly threw scalding coffee at others; she said the existing gap left police with only the options of arrest or leaving the person in place.

Senator Bierke moved to send the bill forward with a do-pass recommendation; the motion was seconded by Senator Keiser. The committee approved the motion by voice vote with no recorded opposition.

The measure, as discussed, would allow officers to place an individual with a neurocognitive disorder into custody as a last resort when the officer concludes the person’s continued liberty poses an imminent danger, while preserving the existing hospital/physician standard for crisis holds when no guardian is present.