Among the 60 other bills Walker also signed Tuesday was legislation to protect people's privacy from employers snooping in Facebook accounts, camera-wielding drones and so-called revenge porn. The governor also approved legislation paring back the state's DNA at arrest law, helping families pay high propane bills and shifting the state's no-call list to the federal list.
State Rep. Joe Sanfelippo (R-West Allis), a former County Board member who spearheaded the bill on the county Mental Health Complex, said county supervisors "failed miserably" in overseeing policy and funding.
"We were finally able to muster the gumption to fix a problem that everyone has known about for more than 30 years," Sanfelippo said. "Finally, this will be about the patients, not the politicians."
Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said he looked forward to working with the new mental health board to "create a community-based system that will deliver better outcomes."
Rep. Sandy Pasch (D-Shorewood), a mental health nurse, praised the detention measure, saying she hoped it may eventually lead to reforms outside Milwaukee County in the rest of the state.
The legislation to overhaul Milwaukee County's mental health system comes after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's "Chronic Crisis" investigation found that politicians had ignored decades of calls for reform, even as conditions deteriorated at the complex and patients died of abuse and neglect.
