Committee advances House Bill 1218 changing competency evaluation and restoration procedures

The Civil Rights & Judiciary Committee on Feb. 18 reported out a proposed substitute for House Bill 1218 by an 8-5 roll call, recommending the bill for further consideration.

The substitute amends Washington’s competency evaluation and restoration system in several ways, including allowing a party (not only a court) to request a forensic navigator for a person charged with a class A felony, expanding forensic navigator duties, and adding provisions for coordinated transitions to case managers when a person is found not restoreable because of an intellectual or developmental disability, traumatic brain injury or dementia.

Why it matters: Committee leaders said the changes respond to a long-running court challenge and aim to reduce reliance on costly inpatient restoration while improving the system that determines whether defendants can be returned to competency to face charges. Vice Chair Farber said the bill was written “in response to the Trueblood lawsuit” and that Washington has reshaped its forensic behavioral-health system in the last decade.

Key changes in…