A bill that would have sold the Utah State Hospital in Provo has been updated to not sell the property but still aims to improve civil commitment and crisis care for those struggling with mental illness.

Provo Rep. Tyler Clancy is putting forward the legislation, which would allow for individuals to be committed to a mental health facility for up to 72 hours, expands the situations when a person can be involuntarily committed and lays out a detailed discharge process for patients.

Currently, patients who are under a temporary emergency commitment can only be held for a maximum of 24 hours. Clancy said extending this maximum to 72 hours allows medical professionals more time to treat a patient.

“This gives medical professionals and behavioral health response professionals an opportunity for more time to find an exit destination for that person to find other resources and just to have more time to serve that person in crisis,” he said.

The bill was presented during a committee meeting Tuesday morning, and it passed unanimously.

During public comment, Utah County Commissioner Amelia Powers Gardner spoke in support of the bill, specifically of extending the maximum hold time.

“In that additional time, not only can we stabilize a patient, but we can also work with patient advocates to make sure they have the resources they need so that they don’t just go back out onto the street,” said Powers Gardner, who is also a member of the Wasatch Behavioral Health Authority board.

Powers Gardner also noted that the fiscal impact should be viewed “holistically,” as funding mental health care would take stress off criminal justice systems and better serve people in crisis, she said.

Sgt. Glenn Giles of the Orem Police Department said that with the 24-hour cap and limited resources, law enforcement often sees cases where people are back on the street after a few hours.

“This would give an opportunity to get a better evaluation on those individuals and give them the resources that they need,” Giles said. Orem’s is the only police department in Utah County with a dedicated mental health unit.

Representatives for the Disability Law Center, Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office also spoke in favor of the bill.

The legislation also would create specific requirements for when a patient is discharged from involuntary commitment, including informing them of available resources.

Discharge instructions for an individual would include contact information for a crisis hotline and peer support services, a safety plan based on the individual’s mental illness and a referral to social services if the person is without shelter, food or economic security.

A local mental health authority also would be required to attempt to follow up with an individual 48 hours after they were discharged.

“Really what we’re doing is just codifying best practices,” Clancy said. “We want to make sure that everyone is making sure that we’re not doing that discharging into homelessness, which is not the providers’ fault. It’s rather just, we want to make sure that everyone’s communicating, everyone’s on the same page.”

The criteria for when an adult can be committed are expanded under the legislation. The bill adds that if due to a severe mental illness a person cannot take care of their basic needs, or if due to mental illness the individual is unable to keep themselves from serious criminal action, they could be committed for court-ordered treatment.

In those cases, Clancy stressed that a “severe, persistent mental illness” is always a qualifier in these occurrences.

“We’re basically saying jails and prisons shouldn’t be our mental health providers,” the Provo lawmaker said. “We need to get this person to actually clinical care.”

Clancy said while the original provision to sell the state hospital property in Provo wasn’t necessarily a “terrible idea,” the feedback he received was that the system wasn’t ready for that move right now.

The idea would have sold the property in Provo, possibly to developers, and would have required the state to develop a dispersed hospital system with facilities throughout the state. Profit from the land sale and property taxes from the land, even after selling, would have been used for mental health facilities and resources.

Clancy said they will now be studying the state’s capacity for mental health treatments and the potential need for expanding resources and services.

The bill is now being considered in the House and, if it passes, will move on to the Senate.

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