BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
AB 2625 (Achadjian) - Defendants: competence.
Amended: April 24, 2014 Policy Vote: Public Safety 6-0
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: June 23, 2014
Consultant: Jolie Onodera
This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 2625 would specify procedures relative to
returning to court a defendant committed to a state hospital or
other facility for treatment as incompetent to stand trial (IST)
who has not recovered competency, as specified.
Fiscal Impact:
No significant near-term state costs (General Fund) to the
Department of State Hospitals (DSH) to the extent IST
patients who cannot be restored to competency are replaced
with IST patients from the wait list and require comparable
treatment, custody, and housing costs.
Future cost-savings (General Fund) to DSH once the IST wait
list is removed by ensuring that IST defendants who cannot
be restored to competency are returned to counties in a
timely manner, allowing DSH resources to be used more
efficiently.
Potential ongoing cost savings to the courts (General
Fund*) due to fewer IST status conferences and court orders
issued under the more efficient process.
Potential minor state-reimbursable costs for medical
directors of local facilities to promptly notify defense
counsel, the district attorney, and county sheriff. These
costs would likely be more than offset by cost savings
through reduced lengths of stay of IST patients in county
facilities.
Potential non-reimbursable local costs for increased
conservatorship proceedings upon order of the court.
*Trial Court Trust Fund
Background: Existing law provides that a person cannot be tried
or adjudged to punishment while he or she is mentally
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incompetent, meaning he or she has a mental disorder or
developmental disability that renders him or her unable to
understand the nature of the criminal proceedings or is unable
to assist counsel in his or her defense.
Existing law provides that if the defendant is determined IST,
the matter is suspended until the person becomes mentally
competent. In the meantime, the court is required to order that
the IST defendant be delivered by the sheriff to a state
hospital for the care and treatment, or to any other available
public or private treatment facility, including a local county
jail treatment facility, approved by the community program
director that will promote the defendant's speedy restoration to
mental competence, or placed on outpatient status.
Within 90 days of commitment, the medical director of the state
hospital or other treatment facility to which the defendant is
confined is required to make a written report to the court and
the community program director for the county or region of
commitment, concerning the defendant's progress toward recovery
of mental competence. If the defendant has not recovered mental
competence, but the report discloses a substantial likelihood
that the defendant will regain mental competence in the
foreseeable future, the defendant is required to remain in the
state hospital or other treatment facility or on outpatient
status.
Under existing law, if the report indicates that there is no
substantial likelihood that the defendant will regain mental
competence in the foreseeable future, the committing court is
required to order the defendant to be returned to the court for
conservatorship proceedings, and the court must transmit a copy
of its order to the community program director or a designee.
Under existing law, an IST defendant may be committed to a
treatment facility for three years or the period equal to the
maximum term of imprisonment for the most serious underlying
offense charged, whichever is shorter.
This bill establishes a process and timelines in order to ensure
an IST patient for whom it has been determined there is a
substantial likelihood that he or she will not regain competency
within the foreseeable future is returned in a timely manner to
the county of commitment.
AB 2625 (Achadjian)
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Proposed Law: This bill would specify procedures relative to
returning to court a defendant committed to a state hospital or
other facility for treatment as IST who has not recovered
competency. Specifically, this bill:
Requires the committing court to order an IST defendant
returned to court from the treating facility within 10 days of
the court's receipt of a report concluding that the IST
defendant will not regain competence within the foreseeable
future.
Requires the medical director of the state hospital or other
facility, if the medical director's report regarding the
defendant's progress toward competency indicates it is
unlikely the defendant will regain competence in the
foreseeable future, to notify defense counsel and the
prosecutor of the finding and inform the committing county's
sheriff that transportation will be needed for the patient's
return to court.
Directs the court to institute conservatorship proceedings
upon the IST defendant's return to court.
Requires that an IST defendant committed to a state hospital
to regain mental competency, but who has not recovered
competency, be returned to the committing court no later than
90 days before the expiration of the defendant's term of
commitment.
Staff Comments: This bill establishes procedures and timelines
for the courts and medical directors of facilities that treat
IST defendants to follow when a progress report concerning an
IST defendant concludes that there is a substantial likelihood
that he or she will not regain competence within the foreseeable
future.
The DSH has indicated that as of March 2014, DSH housed 35 IST
patients who were determined unlikely to be restored to
competency or have been in a state hospital longer than the
maximum term of commitment. Returning these IST patients to the
committing county would result in an overall reduction in the
cost of competency restoration per patient at DSH. However,
these beds would likely be backfilled by defendants in county
jails currently on the IST waitlist (about 350 defendants). As a
result, the provisions of this bill are not estimated to result
in reduced costs in the near-term, but rather a continuation of
existing costs. However, over time the increased efficiencies
created by this bill could potentially result in cost savings by
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ensuring defendants who cannot be restored to competency are
returned to counties in a timely manner, allowing DSH resources
to be used in a more efficient manner.
The Judicial Council has concurred that the current IST backlog
results in patients often spending prolonged periods of time
without proper treatment and evaluation services while placed in
local jails awaiting placement. These circumstances require
courts to set multiple status conferences and issue orders to
show cause. By more efficiently returning IST patients to their
county of commitment, the provisions of this bill will reduce
the number of status conferences called and assist in securing
more timely placements for IST patients.
This bill could result in potential minor state-reimbursable
costs for medical directors of local facilities to promptly
notify defense counsel, the district attorney, and county
sheriff. These costs would likely be more than offset by cost
savings through reduced lengths of stay of IST patients in
county facilities.
Staff notes the 2014 Budget Act includes $27.8 million (General
Fund) to the DSH for 105 additional IST beds to help reduce the
number of defendants waiting to be transferred to a state
hospital and $3.9 million (General Fund) for expansion of the
Restoration of Competency Program to add up to 55 IST beds at
local facilities.