Committee does not advance bill expanding treatment courts to cover diversion and updates substance‑use terminology

The House Judiciary Committee voted 4-5 against a do-pass recommendation for House Bill 49, a measure that would amend Wyoming treatment court statutes, add diversion court authority to court-supervised treatment teams and standardize statute language to "substance use disorder." The committee vote ended the bill’s progress from the committee.

Representative Larson introduced the bill and asked Alisa Butler, state court administrator for the Wyoming Judicial Branch, to explain treatment courts and the diversion pilot. Butler told the committee treatment courts are typically post-adjudication programs for defendants convicted of crimes with a substance-use component and that diversion courts are pre-adjudication programs for people charged with low-level offenses who screen positive for mental illness and can be diverted to treatment rather than prosecuted. "If…