A New Mexico House panel has passed a proposal that would require some residents with severe mental illness to receive court-ordered outpatient treatment.
The House Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to forward the measure on to the full House.
The bill has the support of mental health advocates.
It would allow judges in some counties to order patients to take medication and undergo treatment if they are deemed a danger to themselves and their community.
The sponsor, Senate President Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen, described the measure as a modified version of New York's Kendra's law.
That measure was named after Kendra Webdale, a 32-year-old woman who was pushed in front of an oncoming subway train in 1999 by a man battling untreated schizophrenia.
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