Committee adopts amendments to mental‑health petition bill, then holds measure to confirm crisis‑team dispatch practice

The House Judiciary Committee considered House Bill 860 (sponsored by Delegate Austin) and adopted two amendments before pausing further action to verify how the bill would operate in practice.

A staff member identified two amendments: a technical amendment (Amendment 1) and Amendment 2, which limits any court extension of a petition to no more than 30 days from the petition’s original endorsement date, requires good cause and that the petition’s original grounds still exist, requires courts to include an expiration time on the petition in addition to the expiration date, and authorizes peace officers to follow best practices and, when practicable, be accompanied by a mobile crisis team.

Members voted to adopt the amendment package by voice and hand; the chair ordered a revote and recorded the adoption as unanimous.

Several committee members asked whether the amendment’s phrase 'subject to the discretion of the peace officer' would weaken the bill by making mobile crisis‑team involvement optional. One member urged concern, citing examples where crisis teams were not called and referencing a recent shooting in Howard County that they said involved an officer responding to a person in crisis. An Anne Arundel County crisis‑response official told the committee that, in that county’s practice, police are typically the first responders; once the situation is identified as a mental‑health issue, officers coordinate with crisis teams, conduct an on‑site assessment and—if warranted—transport the person for evaluation and care. The official described typical stays of about 72 hours in an emergency department before transfer to a specialized facility.

After the exchange the committee chair said she would reach out to the Anne Arundel County crisis response team for clarification and held House Bill 860 until the end of the calendar pending that follow‑up.

The committee did not take a final on‑the‑floor vote on the bill during this session and left the amendment package in place while awaiting operational confirmation.