The Legislature is to be commended for approving House Bill 2053, which gives law enforcement the option to use licensed crisis intervention centers as an alternative to incarceration when appropriate.

Gov. Sam Brownback signed the bill — known as the Crisis Intervention Act — into law last week.

The Crisis Intervention Act would allow people age 18 and older to be placed in a licensed crisis intervention center for up to 72 hours for emergency observation and treatment. At the end of 72 hours, they would have to be released or transferred to another facility such as a state psychiatric hospital or a community hospital authorized to take involuntary admissions.

Kansas currently has three crisis centers — in Kansas City, Wichita and Topeka — which only take patients who agree to treatment.

Douglas County is working to partner with Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center to develop an intervention center, and Douglas County Administrator Craig Weinaug is a supporter of the new act.

“The next step is for the state to write regulations for the licensing to go with a 72-hour hold,” he said. “Then the decision will be made if that is a type of service we would want to include in a crisis center. It’s good to have that option.”

A similar bill failed in 2016 after concerns were raised about violating the rights of people with mental illnesses. This year’s bill is a compromise hammered out by law enforcement and mental health professionals.

The act limits the circumstances in which a person can continue to be detained. Individuals held in centers must be evaluated by the head of the center within four hours of admission, again within 23 hours, and a third time within 48 hours. The second evaluation must be conducted by someone other than the person who conducted the first evaluation. If any evaluation shows the person no longer meets the standards for holding someone involuntarily due to mental illness or substance abuse, the center would be required to release the individual.

Incarcerating individuals struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues often exacerbates the problem and sets in motion a cycle of jail stays that are not helpful to the individual and are expensive to taxpayers. The Crisis Intervention Act should help address the problem in Kansas.