Counties, sheriffs and mental-health officials press for more capacity and timeline changes on priority admissions (SF2628); DCT warns of safety and feasibility

County leaders, prosecutors, sheriffs and advocates urged the Senate Human Services Committee on May 20 to address long waits for people civilly committed to state-operated behavioral-health treatment by increasing capacity and improving transparency. Senator Clare Rasmussen’s bill, Senate File 2628, proposes several changes: a dashboard to report waitlist metrics, protections so counties are not billed for ‘‘do not meet medical criteria’’ (DNMC) costs when the delay is caused by lack of state capacity, the ability for correctional facilities to bill Direct Care and Treatment (DCT) for care after 30 days in custody, and capacity increases at state forensic and community psychiatric facilities.

Supporters described the problem as people with severe mental illness languishing in jails and local hospitals while waiting for admission to state treatment. Bill proponents said the priority-admissions review panel and task force had identified capacity as the primary barrier and urged the Legislature to invest in capacity expansion. The bill would add roughly 72 forensic mental-health beds (about a 20% increase), 22 beds at the Anoka-Metro Regional Treatment Center (AMRTC), and about 19 community behavioral-health hospital beds, based on the sponsor’s summary.

Law-enforcement witnesses emphasized the human and public-safety costs of long waits. Bill Hutton of the Minnesota Sheriffs Association said the 48-hour transfer expectation is often not met and that dockets can stretch to months or more, leaving jails to hold people who need treatment. County Commissioner Terrell Clark spoke for county associations and urged removing county liability for DNMC billing when delays are caused by system capacity.

Direct Care and Treatment testified that the bill ‘‘does not honor or reflect’’ the review panel’s recommendations and warned that removing the requirement that an admission only occur when a medically appropriate bed is available would force DCT to admit individuals without safe space, documentation or staffing. DCT’s executive medical director, Kylie Ann Stevens, said the agency could not safely admit everyone within 48 hours without substantial new capacity and warned that placing patients in unsafe settings would risk regulators shutting down programs. DCT also said the bill’s capacity targets are arbitrary and that any timeline change must be tied to verified capacity increases.

Committee outcome and next steps

The committee did not take final action. Members agreed to continue the conversation and scheduled more time to consider the bill and stakeholder concerns; sponsors said they will work with DCT and other stakeholders to reconcile recommended reforms and capacity targets. The committee laid the bill over and planned to resume discussion at the next meeting.