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Dent backs mental health bill

Columbia Basin Herald (Moses Lake, WA)
Jan 31, 2015

Jan. 31--OLYMPIA -- Rep. Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake, closed arguments regarding House Bill 1258 with a personal anecdote about his own son's struggle with maintaining mental health.

House Bill 1258, which passed through the House of Representatives 98-0 on Thursday, allows people to petition the court for the involuntary detainment of an immediate family member. The bill is also known as Joel's Law, named after Joel Reuter, a Seattle man with severe bipolar disorder who died in 2013 after exchanging gun shots with police.

"Washington is an outlier," said Rep. Jay Rodne, R-North Bend. "We need to join the other 43 states that allow family members the ability to go to court to get their loved ones the mental health treatment they desperately need."

Dent related a story about his own son on the floor of the House just before voting on the bill took place. "Through the years we helped him as he fought the spiders that crawled up the walls and the snakes that crawled around on the floors," Dent said. "We loved him, and we hugged him, and we couldn't find him help."

Dent said a doctor diagnosed his son with bipolar disorder when he was 19. Dent said medication helped his son but serious problems arose when he stopped taking it.

"He thought he was well about a year or so ago, and he went off," Dent said.

Dent said his son stole his mother's car and a gun last December. Dent's son was arrested and taken to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane.

"For almost three weeks he was there, and I talked to him everyday," Dent said.

Doctors told Dent that his son was ready to be released from the hospital, but Dent said he disagreed.

"They wouldn't listen to me," Dent said.

Almost immediately upon returning home, Dent said his son stole another car and was arrested a second time.

"I praise the Grant County Sheriff's Office because they knew me and they knew him and they didn't shoot him," Dent said.

Dent said his son is still in Grant County Jail.

House Bill 1258 would have allowed Dent to petition a court to keep his son detained, even after a mental health care professional cleared him for release.

"I know it will save lives," Dent said.

Rep. Brady Walkinshaw, D-Seattle, the bill's prime sponsor, also spoke in favor of the bill before voting took place.

"This is the first step to solving a mental health crisis in our state," Walkinshaw said.

House Bill 1258 is one of several bills being considered by the legislature this session aimed at improving mental health care. The bill still needs to pass the Senate.

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Jacob Rummel is an intern reporting from the state capitol through the Murrow News Service. He can be reached via email at jacob.rummel@email.wsu.edu.

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(c)2015 the Columbia Basin Herald, Wash.

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