OregonHB 20052025 Regular SessionHouseWALLET

Relating to behavioral health; and declaring an emergency.

Sponsored By: Jason Kropf (Democratic), Tom Andersen (Democratic)

Became Law

Your PRIA Score

Score Hidden

Personalized for You

How does this bill affect your finances?

Sign up for a PRIA Policy Scan to see your personalized alignment score for this bill and every other piece of legislation we track. We analyze your financial profile against policy provisions to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.

Free to start

Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

24 provisions identified: 9 benefits, 4 costs, 11 mixed.

No hospital commitment for minor charges

A court may not commit someone to state mental hospital custody when the most serious charge is a violation. From September 29, 2025, through January 1, 2028, the court also may not commit someone when the top charge is a violation or a misdemeanor other than a person Class A misdemeanor.

Firearm bans after mental health orders

If a court finds you have a mental illness and are likely dangerous, it must bar you from buying or having guns. The court sends the order to the sheriff for law‑enforcement records and tells you how to seek relief. If you are on assisted outpatient treatment and the court finds you are likely dangerous, it can bar you from guns during the order. Courts must also send required records to the State Police for state and federal background checks.

Commitment continues unless you protest

If the facility seeks to continue your commitment, the director must personally serve and read the certification to you and ask if you protest. The director must file it with the court and report when service happened. If you do not protest within 14 days after service, the court extends your commitment up to 180 more days without another hearing.

Advance directives and capacity rules

The law defines when someone is incapable of making mental health treatment decisions. Two qualified evaluators or a court can make that finding, and in some cases the court must decide within one judicial day and notify the investigator. If an investigator thinks you have a mental health declaration, they must quickly notify you, your lawyer, the court, and any named agent they can locate. A legal incapacity finding alone cannot prove you need involuntary treatment, though the facts behind it can be used. The model declaration form now refers to capacity evaluators and lets you set how many inpatient days you consent to. Key definitions are updated to clarify what counts as mental health treatment.

Time limits on hospital commitment

If you are found unfit to stand trial, the law caps hospital commitment by charge. Person Class A misdemeanors or contempt: up to 90 days, extendable once to 180 days. Most felonies: up to 6 months, extendable once to 12 months. The most serious crimes: up to 12 months, extendable once to 18 months. Judges can extend only if you still meet commitment rules and are likely to regain fitness within the extension. You stay committed while the court decides on an extension. The law sets filing deadlines, allows up to 30 extra days for discharge planning when placement is near, and lets prosecutors seek more time when evaluators find malingering. Facilities must receive signed extension orders by set deadlines. These rules apply from September 29, 2025 through January 1, 2028.

Hospital reviews and faster placements

Hospitals must evaluate you within 60 days to see if you can regain fitness. They must tell the court right away if you regain fitness or if there is no realistic chance, and give a finding within 90 days. While recovery is likely, they must report progress at least every 180 days. At least 60 days before the first commitment period ends, the facility must notify the court and parties. When hospital care is no longer needed, the court orders the local mental health director to check within five judicial days for community services and placements, report on wait lists, and give updates every 30 days until placement is secured.

Safer care and family updates

People held for mental illness cannot get unusual or hazardous treatments, including convulsive therapy. Care must follow usual medical standards, and the treating practitioner is responsible for treatment choices. If you are committed and ask for voluntary admission, a licensed practitioner must examine you right away. If you need immediate care, you are voluntarily admitted to a state hospital or an approved facility. With your OK, facilities must give your family or designee basic medical and visitation information. If you cannot authorize, the facility must tell your family you are there and try to notify next of kin, unless a clinician says it is not in your best interest or federal law bars it. Requesters must agree in writing not to share the information, and facilities acting in good faith are protected from liability.

Stronger notice and counsel rights

You have the right to a lawyer with the skills your case needs. If you cannot afford one and are found eligible, the court appoints counsel at state expense. A guardian, relative, or friend may ask for counsel for you, and detained people can contact or get counsel as soon as possible. You must be personally handed the certified citation before the hearing and given a chance to talk with your lawyer first. Examiners get your medical records, and your lawyer gets them at least 24 hours before the hearing.

Easier siting of treatment homes and centers

Inside urban growth boundaries, cities and counties must allow residential treatment homes and facilities on qualifying sites without a plan change or special permit, and decide within 120 days. They also must allow crisis stabilization centers on public land next to a licensed hospital with a pending application, and allow adjacent licensed hospitals, with a 30‑day decision for that section. Residential homes are a permitted use in most residential zones and cannot face stricter zoning than single‑family houses. The law updates definitions for small care homes and removes an older land‑use section to align rules. Local governments may deny if utilities or streets are not adequate, or if statewide hazard or resource goals block it. Appeals are by writ of review, not land‑use appeals.

Firearm reporting and rights after findings

State agencies must give Oregon State Police basic ID data for people in certain commitment and mental‑health categories, and police send it to the federal government when required. The shared data is limited to basics like name, birth date, gender, and a source reference—no medical files. If a court finds you unfit to proceed, that now counts as a state mental health determination for firearm‑rights relief petitions. Petitioners must serve DHS, the Oregon Health Authority, and district attorneys in the affected counties.

Clearer tests for civil commitment

Judges consider insight, ability to follow treatment, recent acts or threats, and patterns of decline when deciding danger and need for treatment. A chronic mental disorder can justify treatment only if current signs match past hospitalizations and, without treatment, the person will likely deteriorate. The law adopts one updated definition of “person with a mental illness” across the commitment statutes. If a case cites a chronic disorder, the local director must tell the Oregon Health Authority, which may verify whether the criteria are met.

Emergency holds, transport, and court notices

A licensed practitioner can hold a person up to 12 hours to arrange transport to treatment, with a recent exam, a receiving clinician’s consent, and a written authorization. County mental health directors can approve trained staff to take custody and provide secure transport between approved facilities. When someone is released from emergency detention, the court must be told right away and must dismiss the case within 14 days unless a required recommendation is filed. Directors can move people between approved facilities and must tell the court. The health authority sets statewide rules, can classify facilities, and can allow facilities to retake people who leave unlawfully. If a tribe chooses to use its authority, state commitment rules also apply in Indian country, and hospitals must notify the tribe within 24 hours.

Prehearing diversion and faster hold timelines

Before a court hearing, the local mental health director and a licensed practitioner can offer short, intensive treatment in an approved facility. You must get written notice, a treatment plan, and a lawyer. If you consent, the hearing is delayed 14 days and can be extended once, up to 28 days total. The director may ask the court not to proceed, offer diversion, or ask for a hearing. Investigators face tight timelines: if you are held, they must finish at least 24 hours before the hearing; if not held, they must contact you within three judicial days and finish in 15 days or seek a limited extension. If approved for emergency care at a nonhospital facility, a hospital can hold you only as long as medically needed and no more than five judicial days. Investigators can contact your current clinicians and review records from the current detention to check facts. The Oregon Health Authority can move people in diversion between approved hospitals and facilities.

Time limits for community restoration

The law caps community restoration time by charge. Low‑level offenses are up to 90 days, with limited extensions. Most felonies are up to 12 months (extendable to 24). The most serious crimes are up to 18 months (extendable to 24). To extend, a party must ask at least five days before the end, and the judge can extend only with clear proof of progress and available services. Courts do not count time when you miss court, are in jail, skip treatment or meds, or abscond. Judges hold regular reviews, and providers must report missed meds or treatment right away. The health authority or state hospital can file a 10‑day report after extensions. These rules run from September 29, 2025 to January 1, 2028.

Who can be committed and your rights

The law clarifies who can be civilly committed for treatment. A person qualifies if they are dangerous to self or others, cannot meet basic needs, or have a chronic mental disorder with two recent inpatient placements. Courts may treat risks that are reasonably foreseeable in the near future, not only imminent. People committed to the health authority have protections: risky treatments need express informed consent, psychosurgery is banned, and mechanical restraints are allowed only for medical need and must be recorded.

Who pays for psych care and transport

Your county mental health program must pay for transport to an Oregon Health Authority–approved facility, but not costs above the state payment. Transport providers can bill you, your insurance, or other responsible parties like other medical transports. Counties must also pay for emergency psychiatric care at approved hospitals for people admitted or detained under the law, using state funds. The health authority can deny payment if the person did not meet admission rules, and providers must submit information for review.

New commitment path for dangerous adults

A district attorney can ask a court to commit an adult who has a qualifying, treatment‑resistant mental disorder and has committed certain very violent acts. If the court finds the facts by clear and convincing evidence, the person can be placed under the Psychiatric Security Review Board and held in a state hospital for up to 24 months. Hearings start quickly, with possible short prehearing holds, and the board reviews the case every six months.

Consular notice for non‑U.S. citizens

If an officer takes you into custody and reasonably suspects you are a foreign national, the officer must tell you that you can contact your consulate. The officer is not liable if they fail to give the notice, and missing the notice does not exclude evidence.

Privacy for mental-health evaluation reports

Reports from certain criminal mental-health exams are confidential. Only the court, the attorneys, the defendant, designated mental health officials, the state hospital or facility, or a court by order can see them. Facilities cannot use these reports to discipline the defendant.

When parts of this law start

Many sections of this act take effect on January 1, 2026. The health authority can do prep work before that date to get ready.

State funding for mental health and defense

The state provides $5.43 million for 2025–27 to the Oregon Health Authority. The money pays community mental health programs for civil-commitment work and to carry out this law. The state also provides $1.11 million for 2025–27 to the Oregon Public Defense Commission to serve financially eligible people affected by this law.

Tribal behavioral health study ends 2027

The tribal behavioral health study and task force end on January 2, 2027. After that date, those statutory bodies no longer operate.

Fitness evidence and evaluation rules

Courts can consider more proof when fitness is in question, including past diagnoses, prior exams, civil commitments, court behavior, and other relevant records. Recent evaluator reports and civil commitment records from the last five years can be used to show a prior diagnosis, and parties can get access to those records for the fitness decision. If no certified‑evaluator report was received, the court presumes you can likely regain fitness soon. The health authority must set standards for local consultations on service availability. Evaluators must base hospital‑care recommendations on your current diagnosis, symptoms, ability to take part in treatment, and safety risks, and local directors must list which needed services are missing.

Court timing in mental-health cases

Time for fitness exams, unfitness findings, and certain mental-defense observations does not count toward Oregon’s speedy-trial clock. For informed‑consent contested cases at the Oregon State Hospital, the Oregon Health Authority does not have to use Office of Administrative Hearings judges.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Cosponsors

April Dobson
Democratic • House
Ben Bowman
Democratic • House
Bobby Levy
Republican • House
Dacia Grayber
Democratic • House
Daniel Nguyen
Democratic • House
David Gomberg
Democratic • House
Emerson Levy
Democratic • House
Jules Walters
Democratic • House
Julie Fahey
Democratic • House
Lisa Reynolds
Democratic • Senate
Mark Gamba
Democratic • House
Pam Marsh
Democratic • House
Rob Nosse
Democratic • House
Sue Rieke Smith
Democratic • House
Thuy Tran
Democratic • House

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 130 • No: 47

House vote • 6/27/2025

House concurred in Senate amendments and repassed bill.

Yes: 38 • No: 11

legislature vote • 6/26/2025

Ways and Means: Heard and Reported Out with Amendments

Yes: 14 • No: 5

Senate vote • 6/26/2025

Rules suspended. Third reading. Carried by Prozanski. Passed.

Yes: 20 • No: 9

House vote • 6/25/2025

Third reading. Carried by Kropf. Passed.

Yes: 38 • No: 13

legislature vote • 6/20/2025