Utah State Activities

LEGISLATION The Governor signed SB 27 into law on March 24, 2003. The bill changes the standard from “immediate danger” to “poses a substantial danger.” More importantly, “substantial danger” is defined to include the serious risk of “serious bodily injury,” which in turn includes the substantial risk of “protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty.” Another significant change is that the bill requires that historical information presented to the court be considered. The members of NAMI-Utah, particularly executive director Vicki Cottrell, were great advocates for the bill.

PREVENTABLE TRAGEDIES The Preventable Tragedies database includes summaries of news articles of which an individual with a neurobiological brain disorder (usually untreated) is involved in a violent episode, either as a victim or perpetrator. Search for Utah episodes by choosing UT in the drop down box.

History

"Utah's prison system houses more than twice the number of people with severe mental illnesses than its lone remaining state mental hospital. Apparently in Utah, the quickest way to get help for severe mental illness is to commit a crime. Ask Leonard Gall."

- More from the Salt Lake Tribune, Feb. 10, 2002

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Tragedy makes it clear that waiting until someone with a severe mental illness poses an immediate threat before the courts can intervene is not only foolish, but deadly.
The Salt Lake Tribune, December 8, 2002.

NEWS Group readies for hard fight to change commitment laws - Opponents worry that "we're going to grab everybody and lock them up," [David] Dangerfield [director of Valley Mental Health] said. Rather, the group wants the law to allow family members and mental health providers to testify about a person's past behavior at a commitment hearing.
Salt Lake Tribune, March 29, 2002

LEGISLATION Utah legislature passed Senate Bill 77 (Blackham) that appropriates funding and creates the Task Force on Involuntary Commitment of the Mentally Ill. SB77 passed the Senate 20-7-2, then the house 61-11-3. From SB77: "The committee shall review and make recommendations on the following issues: (a) admissibility of evidence at hearings of historical information concerning patterns of 33 treatment compliance and decompensation; (b) criteria for determining the need for involuntary commitment; and (c) inclusion of involuntary medication decisions in conjunction with involuntary commitment processes." Although it is far easier to agree that something should be investigated than to agree on what should be done, hopefully this task force will result in a positive change to the law. The legislation provides that a final report, including any proposed legislation shall be presented to the Health and Human Services Interim Committee before November 30, 2002.

OPED Committing crime is fastest ticket to treatment of mental illness - The past five years in Utah have been filled with preventable tragedies caused by the lack of strong treatment laws. In the media, publicity spiked in 1999, when Sergei Babarin and Lisa Duy each shot and killed strangers in heavily reported incidents at the Triad Center and the LDS Family History Library. Both had severe untreated mental illnesses; neither was helped by Utah's outdated law. Yet neither the daily tragedies of homelessness and victimization nor these highly visible moments of terror were enough to spur a change in Utah law. And now Susan Gall is dead at the hand of her son.
Salt Lake Tribune, Feb. 10, 2002

OPED Legislature had chance to help, but failed Lenny Ray Cornia - It is estimated that the change in Utah’s law would have ensured that 100 individuals who are most in need of treatment for severe mental illness would have received it this year.
Salt Lake Tribune, April 16, 2000

LEGISLATION Introduced Jan. 29, 2000, Senate Bill 200 passed in the Senate on Feb, 22, 2000, but was not brought up for a vote in the House because the fiscal note tied to the bill to fund additional services did not make the Legislature’s priority funding list. The bill language would have removed the "imminent" danger requirement, and replaced it with "substantial" danger. It also amended danger to self to include "currently relevant historical pattern indicating that without treatment … will suffer severe and abnormal mental or emotional distress, and will experience deterioration of his ability to function …"

STUDY Threats to radio and television station personnel in the United States by individuals with severe mental illnesses
Public Citizen and Treatment Advocacy Center, Dec. 15, 1999 (See press release announcing study's availability.)

PRESS RELEASE Utah must have stronger treatment laws to prevent tragedies involving individuals with untreated severe mental illnesses
Treatment Advocacy Center, April 16, 1999

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