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Bill would let forensic hospitals request medical and behavioral records from detention facilities for competency restoration
Summary
Presenters said Assembly Bill 30 would allow the Division of Forensic Services to request psychiatric and medical observations from detention facilities for patients court-ordered to competency restoration, improving continuity of care when defendants cannot provide reliable histories.
Drew Cross, state forensic program director, and Dr. Rhonda Dillinger told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Assembly Bill 30 would permit the Division of Forensic Services to request pertinent psychiatric and medical information from local detention facilities for individuals court-ordered to competency-to-stand-trial restoration treatment.
Cross said most inpatients arrive from local detention centers and that correctional staff observations often provide the only reliable recent history for people whose symptoms make them unable to provide an accurate account themselves. He told the committee that “the receiving of these records is for the limited purpose of formulating an individualized treatment plan and there is no intent to gather criminal history.”
Dr. Rhonda Dillinger and legal counsel clarified the bill’s scope. Dillinger said the provision applies to defendants who have been detained or who previously served a term of imprisonment and who are subsequently committed or ordered to report to the administrator for competency evaluation and restoration. Counsel confirmed the language covers both persons awaiting trial and those serving sentences who are committed for restoration evaluations.
Proponents compared the bill’s language to NRS 178.453, which already allows the division to obtain records from the Department of Corrections for similar reasons. Witnesses said AB 30 would standardize practice statewide, speed access to clinical information, and improve individualized treatment planning at Lakes Crossing Center and Stein Forensic Hospital.
Committee members asked whether the problem arose from defendants’ inability to sign releases; presenters said that because some people are too symptomatic to sign releases of information, statutory authority makes timely record-sharing possible. No callers provided public support, opposition or neutral testimony during the hearing, and the committee closed the hearing on AB 30 without a recorded vote.
