A bill that would allow Illinois and Iowa mental health patients to get treatment across the border is now headed to Governor Bruce Rauner's desk.
The bill approved by the Illinois General Assembly Friday applies to people who are ordered by a judge to be admitted to a mental health center. Current law prevents those patients from getting treatment out of state.
The bill's sponsor State Rep. Mike Halpin, D-Rock Island, says the bill would keep patients closer to the families and "support networks."
"Right now in some cases in Iowa a patient who needs to be admitted to an institution sometimes needs to be housed halfway across the state in Iowa, whereas we have facilities in Rock Island that can take those patients."
The bill applies to residents of Rock Island County and the Iowa counties of Cedar, Clinton, Jackson, Muscatine, Scott.
The bill passed unanimously in both the Illinois House and Senate. Illinois State Senator Neil Anderson from Andulusia also sponsored the bill.
If approved, the 2-year pilot project would go into effect next January.