Bill seeks to limit out‑of‑area police drop‑offs after MLK hospital reports hundreds of out‑of‑area 5150 transports

Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital told the Senate Committee on Health that law‑enforcement agencies routinely bring patients on 5150 psychiatric holds from across Los Angeles County, sometimes bypassing multiple nearer facilities.

"Minutes matter," Dr. Nakase, vice president for community and government affairs at Martin Luther King Hospital, said in testimony describing cases in which officers drove 20‑plus miles and bypassed numerous designated psychiatric receiving facilities to drop patients at MLK. The hospital urged lawmakers to require clearer transport standards and to collect data on why agencies bypass closer options.

Assemblymember Mike Gibson said the measure, AB 2405, would create a uniform rule for police transport of people in behavioral‑health crisis and require quarterly reporting so policymakers can see patterns and causes. Gibson said the bill is focused narrowly on 5150 holds and aims to prevent persistent burdens on safety‑net hospitals.

Supporters described the scale of the problem in the hospital’s emergency department, which the hospital says routinely operates far over capacity while holding behavioral‑health patients in tents or hall space while they await placements. Dr. Nakase told the committee that in a four‑month period the hospital logged roughly 400 law‑enforcement drop‑offs from jurisdictions outside its immediate service area.

Opponents, including the California State Sheriffs’ Association and the California Police Chiefs Association, said operational realities make rigid statewide rules risky. "Law enforcement is not medical transport," a sheriff’s association representative told the committee, arguing officers do not have the same real‑time hospital status tools that EMS crews use and that a statutory requirement could expose officers to liability in exigent circumstances.

Several senators pressed for more localized problem‑solving. Vice Chair Valladares and others urged the author and county officials to develop interoperable local protocols so field officers have accurate, up‑to‑date information about designated receiving facilities, diversion status and appropriate alternatives before a state standard is imposed.

Gibson said the bill will be narrowed to focus on 5150 transports and that the data‑collection provisions are intended to inform practical solutions. The author asked the committee for an I vote, and senators agreed to move the measure forward while signaling they expect further work on definitions, emergency exceptions and technical feasibility.

Next steps: AB 2405 was ordered to be re‑referred for further committee review; proponents and opponents said they intend to keep negotiating technical language and data requirements while the bill advances.