ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — Budget negotiations include a policy proposal to expand the state’s power to force people into psychiatric care, prompting pushback from mental health advocates who warn it could deepen a cycle of inadequate treatment and repeat hospitalization. Involuntary commitme nt refers to a legal process forcing people with severe mental illness into treatment if they risk harming themselves or others. It lets mental health professionals intervene when someone cannot recognize their need for basic needs like food, shelter, or medical care. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal would make it easier for local authorities to hospitalize people who can't care for themselves—before a crisis escalates, before someone self-harms or endangers others, but without waiting for evidence of recent violent behavior. Both houses of the legislature rejected the proposal in their one-house budgets, calling instead for better discharge planning and more community safety programs. New York bills would protect Tesla owners, target Tesla dominance A final budget negotiated between the governor and the legislature was due on April 1. Two weeks past the deadline, the debate over involuntary commitment represents one of the main sticking points that stalled the process. The New York state chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness held a press conference to support the governor’s proposal on Thursday, alongside local leaders, industry professionals, and the commissioner of the state Office of Mental Health, Dr. Ann Marie Sullivan. They stressed that current underfunding and a broken discharge system continue to endanger New Yorkers. Correction officer blacklist partially lifted, but not at state agencies “Increase to the involuntary commitment law will save lives, and it will ensure that individuals, some of the most vulnerable individuals living with serious mental illness, get the help that they need,” Sullivan said. With budget negotiations having broken down, legislative Republicans also held a press conference on Wednesday to support expanding involuntary commitment and accuse state Democratic legislators of blocking common-sense measures to protect public safety. They cited a recent violent incident in Brooklyn—a cleaver attack on four children—as proof that the current laws do not go far enough in preventing tragedy. Legislators want overhaul of lieutenant governor election provisions The Democratic governor has said that changing involuntary commitment policies would arm clinicians with a new tool to defuse a crisis, and Republicans agreed with that framing. But they maintained that Democrat ideas about crime hurt New Yorkers. Here's Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay: New York bills aim to reform parole and sentencing The New York State Sheriffs Association backed Hochul’s proposals, too, arguing in a statement on April 4 that early intervention would reduce crime and ease overcrowding at jails and prisons. They said that the new policy would give police and district attorneys the tools needed to step in when mental health issues reach dangerous levels. "We want New Yorkers to know that the governor is absolutely on the right track,” said Sheriff James Quattrone, president of the New York State Sheriffs’ Association and sheriff of Chautauqua County. HEART Act would end ban on ‘multi-listing’ for transplants A coalition of mayors and other local leaders from across the state urged the legislature to support the proposal. In a letter from March 28 and cited by Hochul, they said that changing involuntary confinement would bring New York more in line with other states that allow earlier interventions. "There remain people with untreated mental health conditions who by virtue of their own mental illness cannot access the medical and mental health care that they so desperately need," the letter read. It listed some theoretical New Yorkers who would benefit from being involuntarily committed: "People whose health and safety are in jeopardy because their mental illness is preventing them from accessing care—people who risk amputation because their mental illness doesn’t let them see a provider to treat their diabetes, people who risk heat stroke because they are overdressing in the height of summer, and people who may be unintentionally posing a danger to themselves or members of the larger community." Report: More unregulated government drones raise privacy concerns A Tulchin Research poll released in February, also cited by Hochul, showed high levels of public support for making it easier to detain New Yorkers having a mental health episode. More than 88% of those polled—600 total residents of New York City—backed expanding criteria for involuntary treatment, with strong numbers across all boroughs and political lines. The poll found that most of those surveyed have witnessed people struggling on the streets and believe that expanded intervention could keep their communities safe. Mental health advocates and civil rights groups—including the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, the New York Civil Liberties Union, and the Mental Health Association in New York State say that forced treatment often fails. They argue that real reform requires more community services, more mental health staff, more inpatient beds statewide, and better discharge planning. Rather than expanding forced treatment, critics say the state should instead fund building out voluntary services that are proven to work. 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