HB2347: The Joel Archer Substance Abuse Intervention Act.

Legislative Summary

The purpose of this bill is to require that mental hygiene regions be created by the Supreme Court of Appeals; clarify that mental hygiene evaluations and proceedings may be conducted by video technology; grant civil immunity for mental health service providers who do involuntary commitment proceedings and setting out exceptions; create a temporary observation release for mental hygiene respondents; clarify that chief medical officer releases requiring approval of circuit court only apply to forensic patients; require hearings for any commitment period of longer than 90 days and prohibiting any person from being civilly committed to longer than 120 days without a hearing to determine whether the individual continues to meet commitment criteria; remove obsolete language regarding transcripts of proceedings to circuit court of county of residence; restructure the mental hygiene commissioner system by authorizing new mental hygiene regions and full-time mental hygiene commissioners employed by the Supreme Court of Appeals; authorize mental hygiene proceedings and evaluations by video and requiring facilities to provide technology that meets Supreme Court of Appeals specifications; authorize statewide coverage for mental hygiene evaluations and permitting a mental hygiene commissioner to exclude evaluator testimony based on the West Virginia Rules of Evidence; and require each Certified Community Mental Health Center to ensure that at least one examiner is available to provide uniform and continuous coverage in each region, including afterhours, weekends, and holidays.