BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2625
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2625 (Achadjian)
As Amended August 20, 2014
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |73-0 |(May 8, 2014) |SENATE: |33-0 |(August 25, |
| | | | | |2014) |
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Original Committee Reference: PUB. S.
SUMMARY : Specifies procedures relative to returning to the
court a defendant who is committed to a state hospital for
treatment to regain mental competency but who has not recovered
competence.
The Senate amendments add double-jointing language to
incorporate changes made by AB 2186 (Lowenthal) of the current
legislative session and SB 1412 (Nielsen) of the current
legislative session should some or all of these bills become
enacted.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSSEMBLY , this bill:
1)Requires the medical director of the state hospital or other
treatment facility to which a defendant is confined for
treatment to regain mental competence to do the following if
the medical director's report concerning the defendant's
progress toward mental competency recovery indicates that
there is no substantial likelihood that the defendant will
regain mental competence in the foreseeable future:
a) Promptly notify and provide a copy of the report to the
defendant's attorney and the district attorney; and,
b) Provide a separate notification, in compliance with
applicable privacy laws, to the committing county's sheriff
that transportation will be needed for the patient.
2)Requires that a defendant committed to a state hospital for
treatment to regain mental competency, but who has not
recovered competence, to be returned to the committing court
no later than 90 days before the expiration of the defendant's
term of commitment.
AB 2625
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FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee:
1)No significant near-term state costs General Fund (GF) to the
Department of State Hospitals (DSH) to the extent Incompetent
to Stand Trial (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.
2)Future cost-savings GF 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.
3)Potential ongoing cost savings to the courts (General Fund*)
due to fewer IST status conferences and court orders issued
under the more efficient process.
4)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.
5)Potential non-reimbursable local costs for increased
conservatorship proceedings upon order of the court.
*Trial Court Trust Fund
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Patients are taken into DSH
custody in order for them to participate in a program aimed at
assisting in the restoration of competency, in order for the
patient to stand trial. Some patients, however, have severe
mental disorders that make it unlikely that they can be restored
to trial competency. For these patients, the State Hospital
issues a progress report to the committing county court
informing them the patient is Incompetent to Stand Trial (IST).
Many counties do not retrieve these individuals, which then
leaves them in the custody of the State Hospital at a cost of
approximately $200,000 per year, per patient. In addition to
this, the waitlist for IST patients awaiting placement in State
Hospitals is at over 300 individuals. AB 2625 is an agreement
between the Governor's office, county officials, law
enforcement, and DSH in order to get these individuals back into
AB 2625
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the custody of the county so that State Hospitals can begin
placing patients on the IST waitlist. This legislation is
sponsored by the Administration and DSH."
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Shaun Naidu / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744
FN: 0005445