1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to mental health; creating a mental health fatality review team; 
1.3 	appropriating money.
1.4 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.5 	Section 1. ADULT MENTAL HEALTH FATALITY REVIEW TEAM.
 1.6 		Subdivision 1.Pilot project authorized; purpose. (a) The commissioner of 
1.7 	human services shall work with Hennepin County to establish a mental health fatality 
1.8 	review team as a 30-month pilot project in Hennepin County to review adult mental 
1.9 	health fatalities that have occurred in Hennepin County during or after contact with law 
1.10 	enforcement, courts, or corrections systems.
1.11 	(b) The purpose of the review team is to:
1.12 	(1) make recommendations to the state and county agencies for improving the 
1.13 	mental health, criminal justice, health care, and social services systems, including any 
1.14 	modifications in statute, rule, policy, and procedure; and 
1.15 	(2) analyze adult mental health-related fatalities, review public policies and 
1.16 	procedures, and try to prevent future fatalities.
1.17 	(c) The commissioner shall work with Hennepin County to establish procedures for 
1.18 	conducting local reviews and may require that all professionals with knowledge of a 
1.19 	mental health fatality case participate in the review.
1.20 		Subd. 2.Definitions. (a) "Mental health fatality" means the unexpected death of a 
1.21 	person with a diagnosed mental illness where mental illness was a significant contributing 
1.22 	factor in the death.
1.23 	(b) "Professional" means a person licensed to perform or a person performing a 
1.24 	specific service in the systems that respond to individuals with a mental illness and 
2.1 	includes law enforcement personnel; social service agency attorneys; educators; and social 
2.2 	service, health care, and mental health care providers.
2.3 		Subd. 3.Selection of cases for review. Cases for review must be selected by 
2.4 	Hennepin County.
2.5 		Subd. 4.Membership. (a) Hennepin County shall convene an appropriate mental 
2.6 	health fatality review team to review the selected cases. The review team members shall 
2.7 	include a core panel with representatives of the following disciplines: psychiatry, medical 
2.8 	examiner, community hospital, county human services, attorney, law enforcement, public 
2.9 	health nursing, chemical health, and mental health advocacy. These members must 
2.10 	attend all meetings.
2.11 	(b) A second group of individuals shall comprise the resource panel, which must 
2.12 	include representatives from emergency medicine, developmental disabilities, adult 
2.13 	mental health, suicide prevention, professionals from communities of color or immigrant 
2.14 	communities, corrections, and other fields. Members of this group are invited to attend 
2.15 	meetings for which their program or clinical expertise is needed in specific reviews. Other 
2.16 	disciplines may be identified as needed by the committee. Panel membership is based on 
2.17 	legal requirements and the need for specific clinical or program reviewer expertise. Each 
2.18 	of the core and resource positions is appointed by Hennepin County to serve for a period 
2.19 	of one year, subject to renewal.
2.20 		Subd. 5.Disclosure of records. (a) Notwithstanding the data's classification in the 
2.21 	possession of any agency, data must be disclosed to the mental health fatality review team 
2.22 	as necessary to carry out the purpose of the team, but data shall retain its data classification 
2.23 	and must not, under any circumstances, be disclosed to anyone not a part of the review. 
2.24 	No data used or findings arrived at may be used in a court proceeding. Findings may only 
2.25 	be used to recommend institutional reforms to prevent future fatalities.
2.26 	(b) Cases must be selected for review only after they are closed to any further legal 
2.27 	activity including opportunities for appeal. The commissioner has access to nonpublic data 
2.28 	under Minnesota Statutes, chapter 13, maintained by state agencies, statewide systems, 
2.29 	or political subdivisions that are related to the death or circumstances surrounding the 
2.30 	response of professionals to the person in question with a mental illness.
2.31 	(c) The commissioner shall also have access to records of private hospitals as 
2.32 	necessary to carry out the duties prescribed by this section. Access to data under this 
2.33 	paragraph is limited to police investigative data; autopsy records and coroner or medical 
2.34 	examiner investigative data; hospital, public health, or other medical records of the person 
2.35 	with a mental illness; hospital and other medical records of the person's parent that relate to 
2.36 	prenatal care; and records created by social service agencies that provided services to the 
3.1 	person or family within three years preceding the person's death. A state agency, statewide 
3.2 	system, or political subdivision shall provide the data upon request of the commissioner.
3.3 	(d) Nonpublic data may be shared with members of the mental health fatality review 
3.4 	team in connection with an individual case. Notwithstanding the data's classification 
3.5 	in the possession of any other agency, data acquired by a mental health fatality review 
3.6 	team in the exercise of its duties is protected nonpublic or confidential data as defined in 
3.7 	Minnesota Statutes, section 13.02, and may be disclosed only as necessary to carry out the 
3.8 	purposes of the review panel. It is a misdemeanor to disclose the data for unnecessary 
3.9 	purposes. The data is not subject to subpoena or discovery. The commissioner may 
3.10 	disclose conclusions of the review panel, but shall not disclose data that was classified 
3.11 	as confidential or private data on decedents, under Minnesota Statutes, section 13.10, or 
3.12 	private, confidential, or protected nonpublic data in the disseminating agency, except that 
3.13 	the commissioner may disclose local social service agency data as provided in Minnesota 
3.14 	Statutes, section 626.556, subdivision 11d, on individual cases involving a fatality or near 
3.15 	fatality of a person served by the local social service agency prior to the date of death.
3.16 	(e) A person attending a mental health fatality review team meeting shall not 
3.17 	disclose what transpired at the meeting, except to carry out the purposes of the review 
3.18 	panel. The proceedings and records of the review panel are protected nonpublic data 
3.19 	as defined in Minnesota Statutes, section 13.02, subdivision 13, and are not subject to 
3.20 	discovery or introduction into evidence in a civil or criminal action against a professional, 
3.21 	the state, or a county agency, arising out of the matters the panel is reviewing. Information, 
3.22 	documents, and records otherwise available from other sources are not immune from 
3.23 	discovery or use in a civil or criminal action solely because they were presented during 
3.24 	proceedings of the review panel. A person who presented information before the review 
3.25 	panel or who is a member of the panel shall not be prevented from testifying about matters 
3.26 	within the person's knowledge. However, in a civil or criminal proceeding, a person shall 
3.27 	not be questioned about the person's presentation of information to the review panel or 
3.28 	opinions formed by the person as a result of the review meetings.
3.29 		Subd. 6.Immunity. Members of the mental health fatality review team, when 
3.30 	acting within the scope of their duties, are immune from civil and criminal liability.
3.31 		Subd. 7.Evaluation and report. (a) The Ombudsman for Mental Health shall 
3.32 	develop, by December 31, 2008, a system for evaluating the effectiveness of this pilot 
3.33 	project and shall focus on identifiable goals and outcomes. The evaluation must contain 
3.34 	data components as well as input from individuals involved in the review process.
3.35 	(b) The mental health fatality review team shall convene its first meeting by July 
3.36 	1, 2009, and shall issue two annual reports to the legislature under Minnesota Statutes, 
4.1 	section 3.195, during the pilot project, one on or before December 31, 2009, and one 
4.2 	on or before December 31, 2010. The reports must be developed collaboratively 
4.3 	with the Ombudsman for Mental Health and must consist of the written aggregate 
4.4 	recommendations of the review team without reference to specific cases. The December 
4.5 	31, 2010, report must include recommendations for legislation. The reports must be made 
4.6 	available upon request. Reports must be distributed to the governor, attorney general, 
4.7 	Supreme Court, county board, and the district court.

4.8 	Sec. 2. APPROPRIATION.
 4.9 	$20,000 in fiscal year 2009 is appropriated from the general fund to Hennepin County 
4.10 	to conduct case identification, payment for records that are requested, and administrative 
4.11 	expenses needed to establish and operate the mental health fatality review team pilot.