Attorney General Ellison praises increasing treatment capacity for vulnerable Minnesotans in bonding bill
Expansion of beds for civilly committed individuals was recommended by Priority Admissions Task Force AG Ellison co-chaired
June 13, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Ellison today praised the investment of $55 million in the recently passed bonding bill to expand treatment capacity, including additional beds, for Minnesotans who have been civilly committed for the purposes of receiving necessary mental health care. The 50 new beds will reduce wait times and ensure some of the most vulnerable Minnesotans get the treatment they need.
"When Minnesotans are committed to the care of the state, it is essential that we get them the treatment they need as quickly as possible so they can get back to living their lives and contributing to their communities,” said Attorney General Ellison. “I was proud to co-chair the Priority Admissions Task Force to help find solutions and get folks the treatment they need, and I am pleased the legislature has adopted some of the Task Force’s key suggestions. I hope this proves to be a significant step in the right direction for our state and for Minnesotans who are struggling with their mental health and wellbeing.
“I thank Senator Sandy Pappas, Representative Mary Franson, and Representative Fue Lee, chairs of the Legislature’s Capital Investment Committees, and the members who championed this provision, as well as the Governor for signing it,” Attorney General Ellison added.
The problem
The Civil Commitment statute (MN Statute 253B) allows for a person to be civilly committed to a treatment facility, like the Anoka-Metro Regional Treatment Center (AMRTC), for the purpose of receiving needed treatment and care. In 2010, the average wait time for admission to AMRTC was 19 days. By 2013, the average wait time jumped to 30 days and the time from the commitment order to placement had grown unacceptably long. Among those affected by the increased time were people with mental illnesses being held in jails that had not been convicted of a crime.
The initial solution
The solution to the backlog in jails that emerged from the state Capitol in 2013 was the Priority Admissions Law, also known as the 48-Hour Rule. The amendment to the civil commitment law, required DHS to admit patients to a state-operated treatment program within 48 hours. Patients being admitted from jail or a correctional institution were given priority over all other patients who were waiting for admission to a state-operated treatment facility.
Despite the law’s best intentions, wait times have only grown longer as the need for medically appropriate bed space has expanded. Commitments for a person who poses a risk of harm due to mental illness have risen from 1644 in 2013 to 2242 in 2023, an increase of over 36 percent.
Priority Admissions Task Force
In 2023, the legislature created the Task Force on Priority Admissions to State Operated Treatment Programs, which Attorney General Ellison was selected to co-chair, to evaluate the priority admissions system and suggest improvements to that system. After carefully studying the issue, the Task Force issued a series of recommendations, including increasing bed capacity to keep up with rising demand, approving an exception to the Priority Admission law for up to 10 admissions from hospitals, and implementing new admission criteria to Direct Care and Treatment (DCT) facilities in general. In 2023 the legislature clarified that patients had to be admitted to a state-operated treatment program within 48 hours of a medically appropriate bed becoming available, not just within 48 hours of a commitment order.
Improvements in the 2025 Bonding Bill
In accordance with the Task Force’s recommendations, this year’s bonding bill includes $55 million to build a new inpatient mental health treatment facility AMRTC. This will improve wait times, which had grown to almost 60 days on average for AMRTC as of 2023 and expand access to care for some of the Minnesotans who need it most.
The legislature also implemented the Task Force’s recommendations to continue the current medically appropriate bed language in statute for 2 years, renewed the exception for up to 10 patients from community-based hospitals to be prioritized for admission to DCT, and reauthorized the Priority Admissions Task Force work until 2026, including a seat for the Attorney General’s Office.
The 2025 Report from the Priority Admissions Review Panel is available here.
