New Jersey bill would extend 72-hour mental health holds

In New Jersey, people brought in for involuntary commitment could remain in a temporary hold a little longer before the next legal step kicks in. A5222 would keep short-term care facilities, psychiatric facilities and special psychiatric hospitals able to detain an involuntarily admitted person referred by a screening service for up to 72 hours without a temporary court order.

The bill does not build a new commitment system. It extends an existing stopgap that now expires in the 36th calendar month after the law’s effective date and would instead run through the 44th month.

The extra months on the clock

That 72-hour window is the bridge between emergency screening and formal court oversight, the point where a short hold can turn into a longer legal question about where a patient should go next. The bill keeps that bridge in place for eight more months.

Assemblywomen Linda Carter and Shanique Speight sponsor the measure. Available key vote records show the bill advanced without recorded no votes.