Boulder County commissioners noted their trepidation about licensing secure transportation services for people experiencing a behavioral health crisis before passing the state mandated regulations on Tuesday.
Colorado House Bill 21-1085 requires that, beginning Jan. 1 of this year, any entity providing these types of services be licensed by the board of county commissioners in which the service is based, though law enforcement agencies and ambulance services are generally exempt.
“This was passed both to help avoid the stigma to mentally ill people being picked up in marked law enforcement vehicles and also to help ease the burden of transportation on law enforcement,” Assistant County Attorney Mike Koertje said. “Sheriffs have expressed the desire to get out of the business of always having to transport in these situations.”
On Tuesday, the Boulder County commissioners approved the county regulations for urgent transportation of someone in a mental health crisis along with fees for their licensing. The county’s Community Planning and Permitting department will be responsible for the program.
There were many unknowns about this program, which staff noted, as this type of business model has not really existed before.
“Pretty much all counties are in the same boat we are in adopting these sort of at the last minute,” Koertje said. “I can tell you from the email chatter that nobody really knew how to deal with this program.”
Licenses are $200 and effective for three years. Each vehicle utilized by the service must obtain a permit after an inspection, which is $125 and effective for one year. The costs may change once the county learns more about how much time it takes to run this system.
The commissioners appointed Kathy Gissel, who has relevant experience with licensing for other industries in Boulder County, as the Secured Transportation Services Authority. Staff noted that the regulation of the services is similar to how the state regulates marijuana or alcohol businesses, though the state does not also issue a license to the businesses.
Staff said they did not know how many licenses and permits they might be issuing in the first year. Koertje noted there is one potential applicant eager to begin, but that was the only interest they’ve seen expressed so far.
Commissioner Claire Levy expressed confusion and concern with how the system would work as proposed by the state legislature. She asked if the secure transportation services would be dispatched by 911.
“It’s hard to say,” Gissel answered. “We did meet with the sheriff’s office and they did indicate that when we issue these licenses and permits, they would like to know of these businesses so that when somebody does call in for this need, they would have the knowledge of what other businesses are available to take these calls.”
Koertje explained that ambulances and law enforcement could continue to provide these services without a license, but the hope of the law was that the licensed entities could provide these services instead.
While it was approved unanimously, Levy did note her concerns with the requirement.
“I say aye with a lot of reservations, though, about the responsibility that is being put on counties to essentially safeguard the transport of people who are maybe in crisis, who may need a level of intervention and support that we can’t ascertain whether that’s going to be provided in the right manner,” Levy said. “... We have to do it, so we’ll do it but it really concerns me that the legislature went looking around for somebody to do something that’s not currently being done, but we don’t have any experience with this in Boulder County. No county does.”
Staff added that they plan to bring a reciprocal licensing agreement with other counties in the near future, which would provide a central entity to conduct vehicle inspections for all the counties who are party to the agreement. For now, Gissel and her staff will conduct the inspections to ensure the vehicles meet state and county requirements for transporting patients.
