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Tonight the Albuquerque City Council could make history, adopting a city ordinance that would allow courts to order mentally ill persons into outpatient treatment programs if they are a threat to themselves or others.

The ordinance is sponsored by Councilor Michael Cadigan and as of early today had the support of a majority of council members, as well as Mayor Martin Chavez, who is among supporters irritated by delays in passing the measure.

While a state statute is the preferred option, Albuquerque shouldn't wait any longer. The Legislature considered but did not pass a state version of what is known as Kendra's Law, despite the strong support of Gov. Bill Richardson and other prominent politicians. New Mexico remains one of only eight states without such legal authority.

The council should adopt the ordinance, which balances individual rights and society's need to protect people from harming themselves or others. It provides for a court-directed, physician-monitored treatment programs that could include mandatory drug compliance through law enforcement.

Studies do suggest that such laws can go a long way toward helping the oft-forgotten mentally ill and in preventing the sad consequences of that neglect, including the tragic loss of life.

Opponents of such mandatory outpatient treatment say the ordinance is little more than a patch for a broken mental health system that desperately needs money and both outpatient and inpatient treatment facilities. They are right.

But until the country and the state get serious about mental health, this city ordinance is a responsible step toward helping those in need and protecting society from any harm they might inflict on others.

U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, a longtime advocate of mental health and a critic of insurance companies and government failures in mental health coverage and treatment, supports the ordinance. He also pushed for the state law.

Patterned after New York's Kendra's Law, which was adopted after a young woman was pushed to her death in front of a subway train by a mentally ill man, the ordinance has been promoted in Albuquerque since resident John Hyde was charged with killing five people on a single day last year.

Hyde is in a state mental health institution, pending resolution of his case. Officials and members of Hyde's family say he was being treated for mental illness and had been seeking additional help in the days leading up to the shooting spree - in particular, a change of medication because the drugs he was given were not working.

Two of those killed that day were police officers acting on a medical directive to bring Hyde in for possible treatment.

But the Hyde case is not the only one that cries out for action. The Treatment Advocacy Center, which promotes mental illness reforms in the United States, lists more than 30 incidents in New Mexico involving mentally ill people over the last two years that ended in "preventable tragedies."

The people of Albuquerque - including those in need of, but who may not be getting, mental health treatment - deserve the help and protection this ordinance aims to provide.