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House panel advances bill allowing some mental-health fitness evaluations in detention centers
Summary
The Montana House advanced House Bill 236 to permit fitness-to-proceed mental-health evaluations to be done in local detention centers and by two‑way video when appropriate. Sponsors said the change would ease pressure on state evaluation beds; lawmakers pressed for clarity on funding and limits.
House Bill 236, which would allow some court-ordered psychiatric fitness evaluations to be done in county detention centers rather than only at the state hospital, advanced on a committee vote after a substantive floor discussion.
Sponsor Representative Reavis, the bill’s author, told members that “Under the constitution, defendants must be found fit to proceed,” and said the bill preserves an existing option to conduct evaluations within local jails using local professionals, reducing pressure on the Galen facility and the court backlog.
The bill’s sponsor and supporters said the measure does not require changes to detention centers or state prison operations and would only clarify where evaluations may occur and allow two‑way video conferencing when appropriate. Representative Reavis said the measure reflects requests from department staff to “streamline” procedures so local professionals can complete evaluations properly.
Several lawmakers asked whether the bill creates new fiscal obligations. Representative Gillette said, “I feel like there is going to be some fiscal impact to somebody,” and urged clarity about whether counties, the Department of Public Health and Human Services, or other entities would bear costs. The sponsor replied that existing statutes determine payment responsibility and that the bill does not change those statutory payment rules.
Representative Kelly noted committee amendments that removed provisions affecting jails and the Department of Corrections and said the bill “clarifies for some jurisdictions where there was confusion of whether or not they could do these evaluations at the jails.” Representative Cafaro pointed to the governor’s Behavioral Health Futures Fund as a possible source for near‑term funding for community evaluations.
The motion recommending HB 236 do pass carried on a recorded vote of 83 in favor and 17 opposed. The clerk recorded Representative C. Fitzpatrick as an absentee aye vote.
