SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 58

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2013

INTRODUCED BY

Mary Kay Papen

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE OFFICE OF GUARDIANSHIP TO CONVENE A FOCUSED WORKING GROUP TO DEVELOP SPECIFIC LEGISLATION TO CHANGE THE TREATMENT GUARDIAN PROVISIONS OF THE MENTAL HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES CODE, TAKING THE FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION OF THE HOUSE MEMORIAL 45 TASK FORCE REPORT INTO CONSIDERATION.

     WHEREAS, a treatment guardian is a person temporarily appointed by a court to make mental health treatment decisions on behalf of a person who the court finds, by clear and convincing evidence, is not capable of making the person's own treatment decisions or of giving informed consent to treatment; and

     WHEREAS, access to treatment guardians in outpatient settings, including the process to obtain one, is not as commonly understood as the use of treatment guardians during a person's hospitalization; and

     WHEREAS, House Memorial 45 of the first session of the fiftieth legislature requested the interagency behavioral health purchasing collaborative to convene a multidisciplinary task force that included a variety of public and private stakeholders to study New Mexico's law on treatment guardianship; and

     WHEREAS, the House Memorial 45 task force recommended increasing the accessibility and accountability of treatment guardians throughout the state in outpatient settings and increasing public information about how to use the treatment guardian process but did not reach consensus on specific legislation to implement these recommendations; and

     WHEREAS, the House Memorial 45 task force also recommended that legislation be crafted to transfer responsibilities currently held by district attorneys for treatment guardianship proceedings to the office of the attorney general;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the office of guardianship of the developmental disabilities planning council be requested to convene, no later than July 1, 2013, a focused working group facilitated by a not-for-profit health care organization that leads the aligning forces for quality initiative in Albuquerque to recommend specific legislative changes to the treatment guardian provisions of the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, in forming its recommended specific legislative changes to the treatment guardian provisions of the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code, the focused working group take into consideration the findings and discussion of treatment guardianship set forth on pages eleven through fourteen of the December 2012 House Memorial 45 task force report; and 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the focused working group include a representative from each of the office of the attorney general, the administrative office of the district attorneys, the public defender department, the office of guardianship of the developmental disabilities planning council, the administrative office of the courts, the department of health, the national alliance on mental illness New Mexico and one individual living with mental illness who is a member of the behavioral health planning council; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the focused working group be requested to report its specific legislative recommendations to the legislative health and human services committee and to the appropriate interim legislative committee that studies courts and corrections issues no later than October 30, 2013; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of health, the chief public defender, the director of the administrative office of the courts, the director of the administrative office of the district attorneys, the executive director of the New Mexico association of counties, the secretary of public safety, the secretary of aging and long-term services, the manager of the office of guardianship of the developmental disabilities planning council and the co-chairs of the New Mexico supreme court commission on access to justice.

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