North Carolina Revamps Involuntary Commitment & Behavioral Health Crisis Services

On June 22, 2018, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper signed legislation that will change the state’s involuntary commitment law with the goal of improving the state’s response to behavioral health crisis. The legislation, Senate Bill (SB) 630, represents the first major update to the law since it was enacted 20 years ago, and goes into effect on October 1, 2019, for most of the provisions.The key goal of the legislation is to connect individuals who are experiencing a psychiatric crisis to the correct services more quickly, thereby reducing the incidence of psychiatric boarding in emergency departments while . . .