Health Judiciary hears update on forensic facility proposals and competency restoration study

The Health Judiciary committee heard a briefing on the status of proposals for a forensic facility and related competency-restoration work, including statutory changes that expand authorities for secure residential recovery facilities and a request for a fiscal study of competency restoration programs.

Legislative counsel summarized the multi-year history of proposals to create a forensic facility, saying the idea first surfaced in 2023 as part of Act 27 and again in 2024; those efforts prompted work groups and statutory changes but did not produce a stand-alone forensic facility. "The secure residential recovery facility can take someone even if they were not stepping down from a hospital level setting," legislative counsel said, describing changes that were enacted last year.

The update matters because lawmakers and providers are trying to reconcile three objectives: ensuring people under the custody of the commissioner of the Department of Mental Health (DMH) receive clinically appropriate care, addressing public-safety concerns for justice-involved individuals, and staying within licensing and Medicaid rules that require services be provided in the least-restrictive setting.

Legislative counsel traced the bill history: the 2023 proposal (referred to as Act 27 in briefing materials) included a forensic facility concept. Committees instead created a work group to examine whether people with intellectual disabilities should be placed in a forensic facility; that group broadly recommended against co-locating people whose primary diagnosis is…