State Sen. Anthony Williams has introduced legislation that would legalize involuntary commitment for people with substance use disorder — a move he says was requested by Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and could significantly expand the city’s authority to mandate addiction treatment.
Senate Bill 716, introduced May 2 by Sen. Daniel Laughlin of Erie County and co-sponsor Williams, would amend Pennsylvania’s Mental Health Procedures Act (MHPA) to classify substance use disorder (SUD) as a mental illness.
The designation would authorize law enforcement and emergency crisis lines operated by the city’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS) to initiate a 302 — an involuntary psychiatric hold of up to 120 hours for people considered a danger to themselves or others.
Williams, who represents parts of Philadelphia and Delaware counties, said Parker approached him to sponsor the bill before her January executive order establishing the Kensington Neighborhood Wellness Court.
Parker’s order authorized police to arrest people for summary “quality-of-life” offenses, take them into custody, and, if eligible, offer them a choice between court-ordered treatment diversion or a fine — typically on the same day as their arrest. So far, most participants have absconded from treatment diversion, resulting in wellness court bench warrants.
“The mayor asked me to introduce the bill, and then to work in the General Assembly to try to get it moved out of the Senate,” said Williams in an interview with Kensington Voice.
Williams introduced a similar bill in 2023, which stalled in committee. He believes the current version has strong political momentum.
“Having a mayor of a major city support it, who's a Democrat, is a big deal,” he said.
The bill has been referred to the Senate Health and Human Services committee. Parker and other city officials did not respond to requests for comment.
In an April joint statement, Laughlin and Williams said the legislation aims to connect more people with addiction to needed care.
“This critical reform will ensure that individuals struggling with these conditions have access to the same level of care, intervention, and support as those suffering from other recognized mental health disorders,” they wrote.
Concerns over effectiveness
Public health experts often cite a lack of evidence that involuntary addiction treatment is effective, warning it can re-traumatize patients and reduce long-term engagement in care.
Williams acknowledged those concerns but argued that voluntary and involuntary treatments have similar outcomes.
“It has the same statistical number of if you voluntarily decide to go into addiction treatment, there's failure rates. They're very similar,” Williams said. “They’re being dishonest.”
He called the bill a “step in the right direction” toward addressing the opioid crisis.
“It’s a step along the line that would get someone who has been addicted for some period of time an opportunity to get into recovery, even if they were not in their right mind,” he added.
State Sen. Nikil Saval, whose district includes parts of Kensington, opposes the bill, saying it would “degrade” people living with addiction. He said the intent might be to expand access to care, but that involuntary treatment would create the opposite effect.
“It would drive big wedges between people who use drugs and the services that are available to them,” Saval said. “There's just lots of evidence that suggests that patients who are forced to care just don't remain in care, and that the effect can be the opposite.”
Saval said the Senate has been generally moving away from “proven public health solutions” and toward punitive approaches. He called for better integration of housing and health care services, such as low-barrier, housing-first programs like Pathways to Housing.
“Housing works, and all the evidence upholds it, in a way that involuntary commitment does not,” he said. “I think they want to disappear people and social problems rather than solve them. And disappearing people doesn't disappear problems,” he added.
How the 302 process works in Philadelphia
Currently, a 302 warrant can be authorized by DBHIDS crisis hotline staff after a physician or responsible party submits a petition, according to city policy. Without a warrant, residents can call 911 or a DBHIDS crisis line in an emergency.
If a mobile crisis team determines that a person meets 302 criteria, they can request the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) transport them to a crisis response center at Pennsylvania Hospital, Temple University Hospital, Einstein Medical Center, and Friends Hospital.
According to the policy, if a responding officer is not trained in crisis intervention (CIT), they should request a CIT-trained officer, a supervisor, and backup.
DBHIDS crisis teams already have a consistent presence in Kensington and will continue to do so, despite a new ordinance approved by City Council Thursday to ban mobile services from most of the 7th District. That bill was amended last week to explicitly exempt city city-contracted mobile crisis units, including DBHIDS teams.
Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, who represents the 7th District, declined to comment on the Senate bill.
During a July hearing organized by City Council’s Special Committee on Kensington, Councilmember Nina Ahmad asked health experts whether the city could use the 302 process for people with substance use disorder.
“That’s not something that we can speak to,” said Amanda David, interim deputy commissioner at DBHIDS. “State laws would have to be changed.”
Andy Devos, chief operations officer of DBHIDS contractor Community Behavior Health (CBH), said he was tracking the state’s 302 legislation.
“We’re watching that,” he said. “We're thinking about how the implementation of that could look.”
Councilmember Mark Squilla has also expressed interest in how the 302 process could be used for people with SUD in Kensington.
“Some people have a hard time making a decision. Or they're not capable of making a decision, depending on what their state of mind is,” said Squilla in a 2024 interview with Kensington Voice. “And so we may have to use a 302 system or other systems to be able to say, ‘You know what, you're doing something here that's really hurting yourself and could possibly hurt others. We need to bring you in.’”
At a 2023 hearing on quality-of-life issues in Kensington, Squilla pressed for more options to intervene with people refusing treatment.
“But the people aren't going. What are we doing to address the problem to get them off the street?” he said. “And if people cannot make the decision for themselves, what are we doing working with the state or others, instead of a 302 or something else that we could then commit them?”
Former Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole, speaking during the hearing, said state law limits the city’s ability to act without someone’s consent.
“Providing medical care to somebody against their will, except in a very narrow circumstance, is considered to be assault,” Bettigole said. “So while there are many situations where we desperately want to provide medical care to somebody who is saying, ‘No,’ we have to convince them.”
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