North Iowa- A bill proposed in response to the death of Aplington-Parkersburg Football Coach Ed Thomas could become a law as soon as Monday.
Its goal is to improve communication between hospitals and law enforcement.
We talked to Floyd County Sheriff Rick Lynch Friday, he thinks the "Ed Thomas Bill" is a good idea.
It creates an administrative form for members of law enforcement to give to hospitals saying they want notification of a patient's release.
On June 20th 2009 the Butler County Sheriff's Office committed Mark Becker to the Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo.
Despite their request, authorities were not aware of his release. On June 24th, witnesses say Becker shot his former coach.
The "Ed Thomas Bill" strives to improve communication.
"These facilities are working good with law enforcement, but there are loopholes and I think this exposed a loophole that happened it takes a tragic event for everything to be magnified,” Lynch said.
Lynch says his office commits roughly a dozen people to Mercy Medical Center North Iowa's psychiatric ward every month.
He says they have a good working relationship. But some facilities are concerned about violating HIPPA or patient privacy laws.
"If I want to find out if somebody in the mental health ward is still there because I believe he's a danger to society and I want to know when he comes back to my community I don't want anything to know about what meds he's on," said Lynch.
By signing the agreement, hospitals must notify law enforcement if they are releasing psychiatric patients with pending legal charges within 48 hours of committal.
Officers then have six hours to pick the patient up.
"If the sheriff's department if they want to know they should give them the form now if they don't give them the form now it's on the sheriff's dept. It keeps people accountable so you can at least look and say who screwed up," said Lynch.
Cerro Gordo County Sheriff Kevin Pals is also in support of the bill.
An amended version of the bill passed the state house unanimously last night.
We talked to state senator Bill Heckroth Friday. He's confident the senate will pass the bill on Monday and send it to the governor the same day.
Once signed it would immediately take effect. The Ed Thomas bill also carries penalties if a mental health facility fails to notify law enforcement of a requested patient's release.
The first offense carries a $1,000 fine, it's $2,000 fine for the second violation.
