FAYETTEVILLE -- Provisions for new mental health crisis centers have a good chance of survival in the Arkansas House, lawmakers told a forum in Fayetteville on Friday afternoon.
Washington County Drug Court also has a good chance of being the first to establish such a center if those provisions remain, said state Sen. Uvalde Lindsey, D-Fayetteville.
Issues brought up at the forum, hosted by the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce, ranged from those crisis centers to allowing guns on college campuses to water quality standards and whether city and county government should be able to stop a private property owner from cutting down a tree.
Senate Bill 472 by Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Benton, is the governor's prison and sentencing reform package. It contains provisions to set up drug and mental health crisis intervention centers, paid for by fees levied by drug courts. These centers would be open every day, around the clock. The centers goal would be to intervene during a psychotic or drug-related incident before a crime is committed.
"It's estimated that 25 percent of the people in the state's prisons are there because of drug or mental health issues," Lindsey said. "If we could eliminate that, that would be a $400 million savings to the taxpayers."
The bill passed the Senate with the crisis center provisions intact and is before the House Judiciary Committee. State Behavioral Health Services, a branch of the state Department of Human Services, has long had a framework for such centers in the planning stages, Lindsey said. That framework would require a court overseeing such a center to work closely with local mental health counseling services. Washington County Drug Court has a long and successful history of working with such services, said both Lindsey and Rep. Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville.
No such centers can start before the beginning of the next fiscal year, when the money from fees becomes available.
In the guns on campus issue, Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville, defended House Bill 1077. That bill allows concealed carry permit holders to bring their weapons onto college campuses. The bill, sponsored by Collins, has passed the House and is under consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"Charlie, what can I do to stop your bill?" asked Bonnie Cook of Fayetteville, a long-time Democratic Party organizer and opponent of the bill. Others at the forum said the bill wouldn't reduce risk but increase it and worsens Arkansas' reputation as a gun-toting state.
Perpetrators of mass shootings have a history of meticulous planning, Collins said. The threat of death doesn't deter them but the unpredictability does, he said. The lack of certain knowledge that all the intended victims are unarmed could dissuade them, he said.
Collins and Lindsey are co-sponsors of another bill, HB 1067, which allows creating nutrient trading areas. Environmentalists, property owners and cities could cooperate on solutions that, for instance, reduce phosphorus in streams. Collins also sponsored that bill.
"The stream doesn't care if the phosphorus in it comes from fields or from a wastewater treatment plant," Collins said. "If you can get an environmentalist who wants to restore a stream bank together with a property owner worried about erosion, and have it paid for in part by a wastewater utility that's trying to meet phosphorus standards, that's a win for everyone."
Collins doesn't support Senate Bill 637 by Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, he said. The bill would prohibit cities and counties from denying a private property owner the right to cut down or trim trees. While he's a supporter of private property rights and a friend of Hester's, Collins said, the bill goes too far. Lindsey said he opposes the bill.
NW News on 03/07/2015