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House committee advances bill to replace 'emotional disturbance' with 'mental illness' in children's statutes
Summary
The House Human Services Finance and Policy Committee laid over House File 2,196 after adopting an author amendment that replaces the term “emotional disturbance” with “mental illness” across relevant statutes and substitutes child-welfare phrasing such as “out‑of‑home placement” with treatment‑specific terms.
The House Human Services Finance and Policy Committee on March 25 advanced legislation that replaces the phrase “emotional disturbance” with “mental illness” in multiple state statutes governing children’s behavioral health and clarifies terminology describing residential care.
Representative Tony Fisher moved House File 2,196 and successfully offered an A1 (author’s) amendment that removes statutory language deemed out of place and makes technical changes requested by the Department of Human Services. After members approved the amendment, the bill was laid over for possible inclusion in the committee’s omnibus package.
The bill does not change statutory criteria for services, sponsors and advocates said; instead it updates wording to reflect contemporary clinical language and to reduce confusion…
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