Mayor Eric Adams lauded coming changes to state law that will make it easier to force mentally ill people into treatment — after he publicly pushed for the change for three years because of crime concerns.
The new involuntary commitment law, which is included in the state’s budget, will allow officials to take people off the streets when they show a substantial risk of physical harm to themselves because of an “inability or refusal, as a result of their mental illness, to provide for their own essential needs such as food, clothing, necessary medical care, personal safety, or shelter.”
Before the switch, people could only be involuntarily committed if they showed a substantial risk to physically harm themselves or others.
“Our advocacy has led to real progress,” Adams said during a victory-lap news conference at the Fulton Street subway station Thursday morning. “We will know in Albany, it takes some time, several sessions, till we get to the full product, and we will continue to move forward on it.”
“Our clinicians have told us that the law was unclear on who they could transfer to hospitals for evaluation, which often resulted in quick discharge in times when people needed the help,” Adams said at the event.
Adams has used his bully pulpit to push for changes to involuntary commitment laws as far back as 2022, but hadn’t been able to get the changes across the finish line in the last few sessions.
Brian Stettin, a senior advisor to the mayor and author of the law that allows for court-mandated mental health treatment, Kendra’s Law, insisted Adams and his administration brought progressives around to support new rules for involuntary commitments.
“Because of the advocacy that Mayor Adams has done to bring some common sense into the conversation, even progressive-minded people have come to recognize that the mayor’s position is the moral position,” Stettin said.
“We must take care of those who are the most vulnerable, even when they don’t realize they need it,” he added.
Stettin conceded that not all of the admin’s proposals made it into the final language, but was happy with the progress.
Additionally, under the new law, someone could now be committed after sign-off from an examining physician and a nurse practitioner rather than the two physicians required by the previous law.
The practitioners would have three days after someone is brought to the hospital to decide whether he or she should be committed and reach out to the patient’s doctor if they have one.
The final deal also included more requirements for psychiatric centers and local social services agencies to arrange discharge plans once someone is released from care.
Hizzoner appeared to start the festivities a bit earlier than most involved, after being spotted rubbing elbows with rapper Nems Wednesday night.
The Coney Island music maker posted an Instagram story showing himself and Adams at a hookah bar, blowing puffs of smoke into the air.
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