Mayor Adams' Statement in Response to Amendments Related to Involuntary Commitment in State Budget Agreement

May 8, 2025

Video available at: https://youtu.be/940htsPlHQU

Following Years of Mayor Adams’ Advocacy, Albany Lawmakers Have Voted to Reform New York State’s Involuntary Commitment Law 

Represents Step in Right Direction to Help People Experiencing Untreated Severe Mental Illness 

NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams today released the following statement in response to Albany lawmakers’ passage of amendments to state involuntary commitment law in the New York state budget:  

“There has been a lot of debate recently about how to address the severe mental illness crisis playing out on our streets and in our subways, and I have always said the days of ignoring people in need of help were over. While rare, we continue to experience unacceptable random attacks committed by people who desperately need help.  

“In the second month of our administration, we announced our ‘Subway Safety Plan’ to address unsheltered homelessness. Later that year, we released a major policy shift for the city that expanded our work to get people involuntary help.  

“I was one of the first — and loudest — voices to call for wider use of involuntary removals and commitments, when appropriate, to help people get help when they don’t recognize their own need for it. At the time, our directive was portrayed as controversial. Many critics — some of whom are now supporters today — even said it was ‘deeply problematic’ and an ‘overreach.’ I wasn’t afraid to do the right thing then, and I have not stopped advocating for change to state law, while still directing our city agencies to do what we can on the city level to address this issue because I know it is the right and compassionate thing to do.  

“Now, three years later, while we’re not done, I am proud to announce that our advocacy has paid off. The state budget adopts many of our requests to reform involuntary commitment laws and fill the cracks in the system. Here’s how — our clinicians have told us that the law previously was unclear on who they could transport to hospitals for evaluation and led to too many quick discharges of those transported. Now, the state has heard our calls to clarify that inability to meet basic needs is a form of danger to self. This will allow so many others to get help and give clarity to those on the ground making these life-saving decisions. These new amendments also require hospitals to work more closely with outpatient providers, give more decision-making authority to psychiatric nurse practitioners in our hospitals, empower families to get their loved ones involuntary help, and improve assisted outpatient care to close the gaps in the system that prevent people from getting lasting treatment.  

“This is a huge step in the right direction, and it can’t be understated just how miraculous it is that we are here today from where we were back when we took office in 2022.  

“For the last three years, we have made great strides. Since the launch of our ‘Subway Safety Plan,’ over 8,400 New Yorkers have been connected to shelter and over 840 are now in permanent affordable housing. We’ve launched new outreach programs, like SCOUT and PATH, to reach the hardest to reach New Yorkers. And in the nine months since launching PATH alone, we have had over 13,500 contacts with unhoused New Yorkers and provided services nearly 4,000 times. We’ve opened 1,400 Safe Haven and stabilization beds, and invested in a $650 million homelessness and mental health plan that will give patients a place to go to continue their treatment after being discharged from the hospital.  

“Let me be clear, there is more work to be done. We did not get everything we wanted from Albany, such as, empowering more clinical staff to conduct involuntary removals and make admission decisions, recognizing a risk of psychiatric harm as grounds for involuntary hospital care, requiring hospitals to screen all psychiatric patients for assisted outpatient treatment, and requiring doctors performing evaluations to consider broader context and not just how someone is behaving in the moment, so we will be back again to continue fighting for these reforms next year. But today is a good day, and I thank Governor Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Heastie, as well as so many of the business leaders, advocates, doctors, and family members who have partnered with us to get this done.”  

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