New Mexico Enacts Legislation Enabling County Option For Court-Ordered Assisted Outpatient Treatment Act

On March 9, 2016, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez signed legislation to allow counties to change their civil commitment policies and mandate court-ordered assisted outpatient treatment for people with untreated mental illness. The law goes into effect on July 1, 2016. It allows each New Mexico county that decides to implement the law to change civil commitment laws and grant authority to a district court judge to order people with mental illness into mandatory assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) for up to one year. The law did not provide funding to the counties, the state Human Services Department, or any . . .