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Panel backs sweeping justice-involved mental-health bill after lengthy privacy debate

House Health and Human Services Committee · February 24, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

The committee recommended HB 572 (second substitute) 12–1 after testimony from Miami-Dade diversion architect Steve Leifman, Behavioral Health Commission chair Ally Isom, and broad stakeholder support. The bill bundles commission priorities and diversion measures but drew sustained concern over a proposed database tracking civil commitments.

The House Health and Human Services Committee voted 12–1 to favorably recommend House Bill 572 (second substitute), a package of behavioral-health commission recommendations and justice-involved diversion reforms that sponsors said would create pre‑ and post‑arrest pathways to treatment and improve coordination across courts, law enforcement and behavioral-health providers.

Representative Lisonbee, the sponsor, said the bill bundles recommendations from the legislatively created Behavioral Health Commission and work with local stakeholders to establish diversion mechanisms modeled on Miami‑Dade County’s approach. “The diversion component of this bill…we're now connecting the dots…

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