Resolve, To Require the Gathering of Information in Order To Develop a Plan To Expand the Infrastructure Capacity for State Forensic and Civil Mental Health Treatment
Maine Legislature, Session 127, LD 1700

Legislative Document 
No. 1700 
H.P. 1168 
House of Representatives, April 14, 2016 
Resolve, To Require the Gathering of Information in Order To 
Develop a Plan To Expand the Infrastructure Capacity for State 
Forensic and Civil Mental Health Treatment 
(EMERGENCY) 
Reported by Representative GATTINE of Westbrook for the Joint Standing Committee on 
Health and Human Services pursuant to Joint Order 2016, H.P. 1160. 
ROBERT B. HUNT 
Clerk 
Emergency preamble. Whereas, acts and resolves of the Legislature do not 
become effective until 90 days after adjournment unless enacted as emergencies; and 
Whereas, the State faces significant challenges caring for residents living with 
serious and persistent mental illness and it lacks adequate community-based and hospital-
based treatment resources to address the needs of its civil and forensic patient 
populations; and 
Whereas, the current structure and staffing at Riverview Psychiatric Center may not 
be fully optimized for the successful rehabilitation of its civil and forensic patient 
populations; and 
Whereas, these structural and staffing challenges continue to contribute to the 
problems with morale and staffing at Riverview Psychiatric Center as well as to the fiscal 
problems facing Riverview Psychiatric Center; and 
Whereas, this resolve requires the Department of Health and Human Services to 
seek the input of a variety of providers, stakeholders, staff and interested parties in order 
to evaluate alternatives to the current situation at Riverview Psychiatric Center and to 
bring information about those alternatives to the Legislature for consideration in order for 
the Legislature to design solutions that are fiscally responsible and meet the legal and 
treatment needs of all patients at Riverview Psychiatric Center; and 
Whereas, the severity of the issues at Riverview Psychiatric Center require action as 
soon as possible on the development of solutions; and 
Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within 
the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as 
immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, 
therefore, be it 
Sec. 1.  Issuance of request for information. Resolved:  That the Department 
of Health and Human Services, referred to in this resolve as "the department," shall issue 
a request for information on or before July 31, 2016 with responses to the request for 
information due by September 30, 2016; and be it further 
Sec. 2.  Content of request for information.  Resolved:  That the request for 
information issued pursuant to section 1 must inform persons responding to the request of 
the current situation regarding Riverview Psychiatric Center's certification by the United 
States Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid 
Services and the consent decree and incorporated settlement agreement in the case of 
Paul Bates, et al. v. Robert Glover, et al., Kennebec County Superior Court, Civil Action 
Docket No. CV-89-88, the so-called AMHI consent decree.  Upon request, the 
department must provide to persons responding to the request for information materials 
that were developed during the design and construction of Riverview Psychiatric Center.  
The department shall require that potential responders provide as much detail as possible 
in their responses.  The request for information must include, but is not limited to, 
requests for: 
1.  Information on experiences of other states in developing secure solutions for 
difficult-to-manage forensic patient populations; 
2.  Determinations of the needed bed capacity in the State for inpatient civil and 
forensic patient populations; 
3.  Estimated construction costs for additions to or refurbishment of Riverview 
Psychiatric Center; 
4.  Information regarding the trends in pretrial mental health evaluations in the State; 
5.  The potential to centralize forensic mental health evaluation services at Riverview 
Psychiatric Center; 
6.  Designs to safely accommodate highly acute civil and forensic patient populations 
in one or more treatment settings that provide a hospital level of care such that the setting 
or settings would qualify for disproportionate share hospital payments to institutions for 
mental diseases, if available from the United States Department of Health and Human 
Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; 
7.  Policy recommendations to improve the safety metrics at Riverview Psychiatric 
Center to minimize the use of seclusion and restraint and eliminate the occurrence of 
abuse, neglect and exploitation; 
8.  Ways to use technology to increase security and reporting requirements at 
Riverview Psychiatric Center; 
9.  Information on the effect that the opening of additional beds at Spring Harbor 
Hospital in Westbrook has had on Riverview Psychiatric Center; 
10.  Information about additional therapies currently available, such as motivational 
therapy, that may be used to improve the treatment of patients at Riverview Psychiatric 
Center; 
11.  Information about the development of a step-down residential facility or facilities 
for persons with mental illness who no longer need a hospital level of care but who 
remain in state custody; 
12.  Ideas for the structural rehabilitation of the special care units at Riverview 
Psychiatric Center in order to provide safer, more secure and more effective units for 
highly acute civil and forensic patients; 
13.  Ideas for the construction of a new secure unit attached to Riverview Psychiatric 
Center for highly acute civil and forensic patients; and 
14.  Suggestions for other available solutions to the problems currently facing 
Riverview Psychiatric Center that are fiscally responsible and meet the legal and 
treatment needs of all the center's patients; and be it further 
Sec. 3.  Department of Health and Human Services to convene 
stakeholder group.  Resolved:  That, notwithstanding Joint Rule 353, the department 
shall convene and provide staffing to a stakeholder group to review the responses to the 
request for information conducted pursuant to sections 1 and 2 and to make 
recommendations for actions based on evaluation of those responses.  Membership of the 
stakeholder group is as follows: 
1.  The Commissioner of Health and Human Services, or the commissioner's 
designee; 
2.  The Superintendent of Riverview Psychiatric Center, or the superintendent's 
designee; 
3.  The court master designated to oversee the so-called AMHI consent decree; 
4.  Two representatives of statewide nonprofit groups advocating on behalf of persons 
with mental illness, appointed by the President of the Senate; 
5.  One representative of a statewide association of sheriffs, appointed by the 
President of the Senate; 
6.  Two representatives of labor organizations representing the direct care workers at 
Riverview Psychiatric Center and Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center, appointed by the 
Speaker of the House of Representatives; 
7.  Two clinical staff members from either Riverview Psychiatric Center or Dorothea 
Dix Psychiatric Center, appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and 
8.  A representative of the State Forensic Service within the Department of Health 
and Human Services, appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
No later than December 31, 2016, the stakeholder group shall present a report to the 
joint standing committees of the Legislature having jurisdiction over health and human 
services matters and appropriations and financial affairs.  The report must contain 
descriptions of responses to the request for information under section 1 regarding 
available options to improve the infrastructure capacity for state forensic and civil mental 
health treatment, analysis of each option and a list of recommendations with regard to 
each option.  The stakeholder group may seek additional information from responders to 
the request for information. 
Emergency clause.  In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, this 
legislation takes effect when approved. 
SUMMARY 
This resolve, which is an emergency, directs the Department of Health and Human 
Services to issue a request for information by July 31, 2016 regarding alternatives and 
solutions to the issues at Riverview Psychiatric Center, with responses due by September 
30, 2016.  It also establishes a stakeholder group to review the responses received during 
the request for information process and develop a report by December 31, 2016 to be 
presented to the joint standing committees of the Legislature having jurisdiction over 
health and human services matters and appropriations and financial affairs. 
Approved: 04/13/16
LD  1700
LR 2816(01)
Fiscal Detail and Notes
Any additional costs to the Department of Health and Human Services to implement the provisions of this bill are 
expected to be minor and can be absorbed within existing budgeted resources.
Fiscal Note Required: Yes
Fiscal Note
Minor cost increase - General Fund
Resolve, To Require the Gathering of Information in Order To Develop a Plan To Expand the 
Infrastructure Capacity for State Forensic and Civil Mental Health Treatment
Fiscal Note for Original Bill
Committee: Health and Human Services
LR2816(01) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1