New Minnesota Competency Attainment Board describes soft launch, hires and asks for staff funding

The Minnesota Competency Attainment Board (MCAA) told the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee on Feb. 12 that its "soft launch" has put staff and forensic navigators into the field but the board needs funding to reach its planned staffing levels and stabilize responsiveness statewide.

"The Minnesota Competency Attainment Board came about through legislation in the 2022 legislative session," Program Administrator Kim Larson told the committee. The statute creating the board appears in Minnesota Statutes section 611.56 and amended criminal-procedure rules (Rule 20) were aligned with the new law effective Nov. 1, 2024, Larson said.

Larson described three early goals for the board's soft launch: create agency infrastructure, hire forensic navigators (target was about one per judicial district), and begin providing services in both the metro area and greater Minnesota. "We have exceeded that goal and have hired 20 forensic navigators as of today," Larson said; she said the board had received court orders referring defendants for competency-related services starting April 2024 and that 68 of Minnesota's 87 counties had sent orders to the program as of December 2024.

The board has certified nine competency-attainment programs, Larson said, and is working from an original fiscal note for operating and staffing. The growth plan includes hiring approximately 50 additional forensic navigators by the end of the fiscal year, stabilizing timelines as staffing increases, and clarifying duties and responsibilities with justice partners.

"We're really just hoping for additional funds so we can meet the original anticipated number of forensic navigators across the state," said Ryan Flynn, chair of the Competency Attainment Board and a prosecutor in Ramsey County. Flynn described the legislative history and the operational gap the new board seeks to fill for defendants found incompetent to proceed but not subject to civil commitment.

Representatives from mental-health advocacy groups also testified. "There are thousands of defendants charged with misdemeanors that are automatically dismissed when the defendant is found incompetent," said Ali Abutai, vice chair of the board and senior policy coordinator with NAMI Minnesota; he said that pattern creates a revolving-door problem for people with mental illness and their families and that the board's programs aim to reduce recidivism by providing coordinated services.

Larson said the board's budget request is based on the original fiscal note and includes requests for employee wage adjustments (about 6%), health-insurance premium increases, and a modest operating budget (Larson used a 10% operating-cost estimate). She did not provide a specific additional biennial dollar total during the presentation; Larson said the request reflects the original staffing assumptions in the fiscal note.

Committee members asked for clarifications about program activities. Larson said certified competency-attainment programs combine therapeutic treatment with educational components to help defendants understand court processes, charges, possible outcomes and to support participation in their defense. "All of the criteria that a judge will use to determine whether someone is competent to participate in their own defense," Larson said, are the focus of the programs' educational elements.

No committee action was taken at the conclusion of the presentation; the board's request and staffing plans will proceed through the regular budget review process.