OregonHB 20052025 Regular SessionHouseWALLET

Relating to behavioral health; and declaring an emergency.

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

Signed by Governor

Personalized for You

How does this bill affect your finances?

Personalize government policy and PRIA will tell you what this bill means for your household, plus every other piece of legislation we track. PRIA reads each provision against your financial profile to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.

Free to download

Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

26 provisions identified: 7 benefits, 8 costs, 11 mixed.

Clinical findings can extend defendants' commitment

Courts can extend commitment when an evaluator reports evidence of faking or managing symptoms and says more assessment time is needed. Prosecutors must petition within 30 days after notice; continued commitment requires fitness reviews at least every 180 days and findings for each additional 180-day period. A court order for involuntary medication permits an extension of up to 180 days, renewable while the medication-order criteria continue. If a medication report arrives within 10 days before expiration, prosecutors have 10 days after receipt to petition, and commitment continues through that window. Combined extensions remain capped at the shorter of the possible imprisonment sentence or 36 months.

More acts support dangerousness-based commitment

More acts can support commitment of adults meeting the other extremely dangerous, treatment-resistant mental disorder criteria. An intentional substantial step toward specified conduct qualifies when it creates an actual, extreme risk of grave or potentially deadly injury. Qualifying fire or explosion conduct also includes likely damage to another person's protected property or danger of physical injury. Fire or explosion conduct incidental to normal daily activities is excluded.

Serious charges allow longer restoration commitment

Aggravated murder, violent felonies, and other listed serious charges permit additional 180-day commitment periods, up to 36 months total. The district attorney must petition within 30 days after receiving the required notice. Clear and convincing evidence must show that discharge risks physical injury or sexual victimization of a victim or the public. The defendant must still meet commitment requirements, and continued commitment must be substantially likely to produce fitness within 180 days. The overall cap also cannot exceed the possible imprisonment sentence.

Treatment compliance affects defendants' release

Courts may set community restoration release conditions, including regular fitness exams, and recommit discharged defendants who violate a condition. Providers must immediately report medication refusal, missed medication, treatment noncompliance, or unexcused treatment absences. Reports must describe engagement efforts, and providers must also report when compliance resumes. Specified periods do not count toward restoration limits, including custody, inadequate restoration efforts, missed appearances or evaluations, noncompliance, and absconding. Some exclusions require findings, such as a release violation harming participation or an unexcused treatment absence.

Commitment continues unless patients timely object

After a 180-day commitment, Oregon's health authority can certify that mental illness and treatment needs continue. The certification must be personally served, read, and delivered, and the person must be asked whether they object. Without an objection within 14 days after receipt, the court must order up to 180 more days without another hearing.

Charges shape defendants' treatment placement options

For unfit felony defendants, courts must order commitment when hospital-level care is needed and appropriate community restoration services are unavailable. Misdemeanor commitment requires specified professional recommendations or written court findings; violations do not permit commitment to the covered facilities. When commitment is barred, not ordered, or less suitable, courts must release defendants under community restoration orders. Orders continue until fitness returns or the court finds no substantial probability of return in the foreseeable future, subject to statutory time limits. Services in another county require that county's permission.

Community restoration gets charge-based time limits

Community restoration limits depend on the most serious charge. Violations and most misdemeanors start at 90 days, extendable to 180; non-person Class A misdemeanors can reach 365 days. Person Class A misdemeanors and contempt start at six months, extendable to 18 months. Most felonies start at 12 months; aggravated murder, violent felonies, and other listed serious crimes start at 18 months; both can reach 24 months. Extension requests are due at least five days before expiration unless extended for good cause, and require clear progress and available services.

Defendants face extensions and commitment caps

Courts can extend restoration commitment when commitment requirements continue and fitness is substantially probable within the extension, considering progress and past efforts. An automatic five-day extension allows a petition to be filed. A separate discharge-planning extension allows up to 30 days after referral when an identified placement is reasonably expected within that time; poor planning alone does not qualify. The clock starts on the initial commitment day, counts hospital and secure-treatment days, and excludes jail time. Total commitment, including extensions, cannot exceed the shorter of the possible imprisonment sentence or 36 months.

Secure placement limits follow committed defendants

At commitment, courts must decide whether later discharge is limited to the most restrictive facility class, considering charges, release rules, and safety. Defendants denied release under the specified bail law cannot transfer elsewhere for fitness treatment. When hospital care is no longer needed because of symptoms, a facility leader may notify the court. Within five judicial days, the court must request consultation on community services and, when applicable, secure placement. Reconsidering a most-restrictive-placement order requires substantially changed circumstances, whether requested by a party or initiated by the court.

Broader grounds for court-ordered mental health treatment

Oregon courts can order treatment for mental-disorder-related danger, unmet basic needs, or a qualifying chronic disorder. Foreseeable serious harm in the near future can qualify even when harm is not imminent. Chronic-disorder cases require two qualifying placements within three years, similar symptoms, and medically probable decline without treatment. Courts may consider treatment participation, insight, past behavior, threats, and clinical information. Health officials may verify chronic-disorder criteria, and investigators may access medical records needed for that check.

Treatment diversion delays hearings with consent

The law replaces the former 14-day certification route with consent-based treatment diversion before a commitment hearing ends. A program director and licensed practitioner must find probable cause and agree an approved facility can meet emergency psychiatric needs. Consent delays the hearing 14 days, with one extension allowing up to 28 days from initial consent. The ordinary five-judicial-day detention limit does not apply during diversion, but a requested hearing must occur within five judicial days. Treatment must follow a plan and usual medical standards; facilities can retake people who leave unlawfully, and Oregon may classify diversion facilities.

Legal protections for people facing commitment

Courts must find clear and convincing evidence that a person has a mental illness and needs treatment. Before a hearing, the person must receive personal notice explaining the reasons and hearing details. The person must have a chance to consult a lawyer before appearing in court. When appointment is required, courts must provide counsel unless the person already has a lawyer or knowingly refuses. A guardian, relative, or friend may request counsel for the person.

Regular court reviews track defendants' recovery

Courts must review community restoration status at least every 45 days. Hearings and fitness evaluations generally occur at least every 180 days. Violations, Class B or C misdemeanors, and non-person Class A misdemeanors follow a 90-day hearing and updated-evaluation schedule. Updated evaluations and reports must precede those hearings. Status reports must describe progress toward fitness, services provided, and additional services needed.

Care protections for held mental health patients

Facilities and treating practitioners must protect the health and safety of people held for mental health evaluation. They must provide usual treatment that follows community medical standards. They cannot use unusual or hazardous procedures, including convulsive therapy. These protections cover people held under the listed custody authorities because they are alleged to have mental illness and need treatment.

Treatment declarations can end commitment cases

Treatment-decision incapacity requires a current impairment and a court finding or opinions from two qualified licensed professionals. An interested person can petition; the court must hear the person and decide whether incapacity is more likely than not. After an investigator's notice, judgment is due within one judicial day. Investigators who reasonably believe a treatment declaration exists must explain the process and notify the court and any locatable named representative. The court must release the person from a detention warrant and dismiss the case when declaration-authorized treatment is sufficient and available; otherwise, investigation continues. Incapacity findings cannot prove commitment grounds, though supporting evidence may inform other decisions.

Firearm limits follow mental health findings

After finding mental illness and treatment need, courts must bar firearm purchases and possession when the required danger finding exists. During assisted outpatient treatment, courts may impose that ban for the treatment period. Both rules require a reasonable likelihood of danger linked to mental state, supported by specified past conduct or violence-related incidents. People subject to the mandatory ban must be told about state and federal restrictions and possible relief.

Unfitness pauses criminal case time limits

Periods when a defendant is found unfit under the law do not count toward the covered speedy-trial time limits. The same excluded period applies to co-defendants charged in the same charging document. Courts can decline to apply it to co-defendants when doing so is clearly inappropriate.

Mental health records get guarded access

Disclosure limits extend to additional dangerousness-based commitment court records, with exceptions for authorized requests and court orders. Facility-submitted fitness records are confidential and cannot support facility discipline against the defendant. Lawful disclosures remain available, including for continued care or by court order. Courts may let either party use a defendant's fitness reports and civil commitment records from the past five years only to determine fitness. A separate evidence-rule exception allows those records to establish a prior diagnosis.

More choices in mental health declarations

Your mental health treatment declaration can authorize admission when you become unable to give or refuse informed consent. You can name an inpatient setting, residential facility, adult foster home, or hospice program. The law removes the prior 17-day limit, allowing 14, 30, 60, or another specified number of days. This gives you more control in advance but can also authorize a longer stay while you cannot consent. You can use a notary instead of two competent adult witnesses; witnesses must meet the declaration’s requirements.

Treatment information sharing includes diversion patients

Eligible requesters can receive specified treatment information about people held in commitment diversion, generally with the person’s authorization. The law also allows sharing with other health care providers, the Oregon Health Authority, state corrections, and local jails. That sharing must be necessary or helpful for the person’s treatment. Information can also be shared when state or federal law, or a court order, allows or requires it.

Community treatment checks for unfit defendants

When a court doubts a defendant’s ability to take part in a criminal case, it generally must seek a consultation. The consultation checks available community treatment services and reports findings to the court. For specified serious charges, the court can choose whether to order it. Without a certified evaluator’s examination or evaluation for that case, the court presumes an unfit defendant has a substantial chance of gaining or regaining fitness in the foreseeable future.

County programs pay qualifying psychiatric care

County community mental health programs are responsible for state-funded payments for qualifying emergency psychiatric care. The person must be admitted or detained under one of the law’s listed authorities. The person must also be alleged to have mental illness and need treatment. Care must be at a hospital or other facility approved by the Oregon Health Authority and county, excluding state hospitals.

Providers face psychiatric care payment denials

The Oregon Health Authority can deny some or all provider payment for emergency psychiatric services during commitment diversion. The responsible payer must request denial in writing. The Authority must review the services and find that the person did not meet admission criteria. This provision does not itself require the patient to pay the denied amount.

Facility transfers allowed during commitment diversion

People held in commitment diversion can be moved between approved hospitals and nonhospital facilities. The Oregon Health Authority can order a transfer for good cause and in the person’s best interest. A local community mental health program director can also transfer a person at any time during detention. These powers allow another care setting but also allow people in custody to be moved during their detention.

More commitment referrals and tribal notices

Oregon magistrates and judges of federally recognized Oregon tribes can start civil commitment proceedings. They join people and local health officers already authorized to do so. Facility directors or licensed practitioners must notify the appropriate tribe within 24 hours of specified behavioral health actions. Notices must exclude information protected by state or federal law.

Placement searches continue for committed defendants

During felony or misdemeanor commitments, local mental health staff must regularly review community services and coordinate possible transitions. Oregon Health Authority staff can help find placements; reports must list suitable options and available referral or waiting-list information. Either party can object within 10 days; the court must hear objections unless deferred or both parties reject every option. If no suitable option remains, commitment continues without further court action, subject to review; staff must explain unavailable placements to the Authority. Staff must keep seeking options and update the court at least every 30 days. Once a placement is secured, the court must promptly hold a hearing to confirm it and set release conditions.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Cosponsors

April Dobson
Democratic • House
Ben Bowman
Democratic • House
Bobby Levy
Republican • House
Dacia Grayber
Democratic • House
David Gomberg
Democratic • House
Emerson Levy
Democratic • House
Hoa Nguyen
Affiliation unavailable
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

Senate vote • 6/26/2025

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

Yes: 20 • No: 9

legislature vote • 6/26/2025

Ways and Means: Heard and Reported Out with Amendments

Yes: 14 • No: 5

House vote • 6/25/2025

Third reading. Carried by Kropf. Passed.

Yes: 38 • No: 13

legislature vote • 6/20/2025