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Senate Judiciary reviews DMH edits to forensic-facility bill, flags competency and diversion questions
Summary
Legislative counsel and the Department of Mental Health outlined edits to S.193 that would shift contracting for competency evaluations to BGS, require diversion attempts before some evaluations, and add procedures for cases where competency cannot be restored; senators asked for clarity on standards, burden of proof and timelines.
Eric Fitzpatrick of the Office of Legislative Counsel briefed the Senate Judiciary Committee on edits proposed by the Department of Mental Health to S.193, the bill establishing a state forensic facility. Fitzpatrick said the department’s draft would move responsibility for arranging court-ordered competency evaluations to the Department of Buildings and General Services (BGS), which he expects would hold statewide contracts and subcontract the clinical work rather than perform evaluations in-house.
The change is intended, Fitzpatrick said, to centralize contracting and reduce costs. "I assume they would contract for it," he said, adding the committee should ask BGS about capacity and contracting procedures. Karen Barber, general counsel for the Department of Mental Health, told the committee DMH currently only arranges evaluations and does not employ clinicians to perform them: "We just arrange for them," she said, describing DMH’s role as administrative and supportive of a statewide contract to obtain better rates.
The…
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