Burchett advances “Kendra’s Law” to meet local mental health needs

     (NASHVILLE, TN), April 2, 2008 -- State Senator Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville) today won approval of legislation in the Senate General Welfare Committee which will set up a pilot program to address mental health needs.  The legislation utilizes the state’s existing mandatory outpatient treatment laws to try to keep citizens, who in view of their treatment history are unlikely to survive safely in the community without supervision, on their medicine.  The bill has been named “Kendra’s Law.”

     “This bill, as amended, is a first start in addressing the mental health needs we are seeing in our communities,” said Senator Burchett.  “We find far too many of those with mental health needs in our local jails, which are not equipped to deal with the specialized medical attention needed to treat them.  The number one mental health facility in Tennessee is the Shelby County jail.  This shows the need for legislative action.”

     Burchett has been working with Knox County Sheriff  J.J. Jones and Attorney General Randy Nichols in crafting an amendment for the pilot project.

     The bill was originally modeled after New York state’s Kendra’s law to provide for assisted outpatient treatment for citizens with mental illness statewide.  As first proposed it would have provided for court-directed, physician-monitored treatment programs that could have included mandatory drug compliance through law enforcement.   The proposed law was named after Kendra Webdale, a young woman who died in January 1999 after being pushed in front of a New York City subway train by a person who was living in the community at the time, but was not receiving treatment for his mental illness.  

     Under the bill as amended and approved by the committee, would simply set up a pilot project in three Tennessee counties.  It would provide for mental health safety centers that would enable a special team of health care professionals to intervene to divert those who are mentally ill from jails and into treatment.  It also would create 100 funded slots to help pay for case management to provide the mental health care needed for these citizens.

   “Twenty-five percent of these citizens are veterans,” Burchett added.  “We owe it to these citizens to give them the assistance they need.  I am pleased the committee has approved this legislation.”

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