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Committee advances bill to allow cross-border behavioral health treatment for people on probation or parole
Summary
House Bill 11-08, carried in the Senate by Sen. Tim Matherne, would authorize interstate agreements so people on probation or parole can receive treatment across state lines; committee voted 6-0 to pass the bill and designated a carrier in committee.
House Bill 11-08 would expand existing interstate treatment agreements to permit people on probation or parole to receive mental-health or substance-use treatment across state lines, sponsor Sen. Tim Matherne told the Senate Human Services Committee.
Matherne said the change would remove a barrier for shared border communities such as Moorhead-Fargo and Grand Forks-East Grand Forks where different facilities provide complementary services (for example, medical detox in Moorhead and hospital-based psychiatric care in Fargo). He described safeguards that require interstate agreements between jurisdictions and said a similar bill was under consideration in the Minnesota legislature.
Multiple health systems and hospitals testified in favor, including Altru Health System and Prairie St. Johns (represented by witnesses from Altru and others in the record), saying the change would increase access to treatment for people supervised by corrections and could reduce recidivism by improving treatment availability. Matherne said corrections and law-enforcement partners have advocated for the measure, arguing that punishment alone does not reduce reoffending without treatment.
The committee moved the bill forward on a do-pass recommendation. Senator Rhodes moved the do-pass motion and Senator Van Osteen seconded. On a roll call the bill passed the committee 6-0: Senators Lee, Weston, Roars, Hogan, Van Osteen and Clemens voted aye.
Ending: The committee recorded the bill as passed in committee and Sen. Van Osteen volunteered to carry the bill forward in the Senate.
