BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
COMMITTEE ANALYSIS
Senator Martha M. Escutia, Chair
BILL NO: SB 1769
S
AUTHOR: Chesbro
B
AMENDED: April 13, 2000
HEARING DATE: May 10, 2000
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FISCAL: Appropriations
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CONSULTANT:
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McCarthy / ak
SUBJECT
Mental health courts
SUMMARY
The author's purpose in introducing this bill is to provide
funding for county mental health courts through an existing
grant program, in order to reduce criminal justice system
costs relating to treatment of offenders with mental
illness.
ABSTRACT
Existing law:
1.Requires the Board of Corrections to administer a
competitive grant program, the mentally ill offender
crime reduction grant (MIOCRG) program, for counties that
expand or establish a program providing a continuum of
swift, certain, and graduated responses to reduce crime
and criminal justice costs related to mentally ill
offenders.
2.Requires the Board of Corrections establish, in
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consultation with the State Departments of Mental Health
(DMH)and Alcohol and Drug Programs (DADP), minimum
standards, funding schedules and grant award procedures.
3.Provides that to be eligible for a grant, a county must
develop a comprehensive local plan providing a
cost-effective continuum of responses including
prevention, intervention, and incarceration for mentally
ill offenders.
4.Provides that the Board of Corrections, in consultation
with DMH and DADP shall award the four year grants to
supplement funding for existing programs and that the
funding cannot be used to facilitate early release or
alternatives to incarceration.
This bill:
1.Adds development and implementation of a mental health
court as an allowable component of a local mental health
plan eligible for funding through the MIOCR grant
program, and also provides a preference for such grant
proposals that establish or implement a mental health
court.
2.Specifies the objectives of a mental court funded through
this program as including reduced recidivism, improved
access to necessary services, faster case processing
time, increased cooperation between the criminal justice
and mental health systems, and improved well-being for
offenders with mental illness.
3.Requires that mental health courts funded through this
program shall provide a single point of contact where
defendants with mental illness may receive court-ordered
treatment and support services in connection with
diversion, sentencing, or probation.
FISCAL IMPACT
Unknown at this time.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
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1.Existing Grant Program
Enacted in 1998 (Chapter 501, Statutes of 1998), existing
law requires the Board of Corrections to administer the
Mentally Ill Offender Crime Reduction Grant, or MIOCRG
program, to award grants on a competitive basis to
counties that expand or establish a continuum of swift,
certain, and graduated responses to reduce crime and
criminal justice costs related to mentally ill offenders
(Penal Code Sections 6045 - 6046). Existing law further
requires the Board of Corrections establish, in
consultation with DMH and DADP, minimum standards,
funding schedules and grant award procedures (Penal Code
Section 6045.6).
To compete for a grant, counties must submit
comprehensive Local Plans created by a strategy committee
which includes at a minimum the local sheriff,
representatives of other local law enforcement agencies,
the chief probation officer, the county mental health
director, a superior court judge, a client of a mental
health facility, and representatives of organizations
that provide treatment or stability, including income,
housing and caretaking, for persons with mental illnesses
(Penal Code Section 6045.2). A 25% county match is
required.
MIOCRG grants currently support demonstration projects in
15 counties. According to a Board of Corrections'
Analysis of MIOCRG Local Plans in March 1999, a total of
44 Local Plans were received from 45 counties. The
applicant counties were fairly evenly divided between
large, medium, and small counties and were geographically
diverse. A number of county Local Plans cited the need
for a specialized court. An evaluation of the MIOCRG
programs is to be submitted annually, commencing with
June 30, 2000 (Penal Code Section 6045.8). The MIOCRG
program has a sunset date of January 1, 2005 (Penal code
Section 6046).
2.This bill:
SB 1769 provides that an allowable component of a Local
Plan may be the development and implementation of a
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mental health court and also specifies the objectives of
the mental health court. This bill further provides a
preference for such courts in the competitive grant
process. SB 1769 provides that defendants may be
referred to a mental health court from a number of
sources including but not limited to the police,
attorneys, family members, probation officers, the
district attorney, the public defender, jail personnel,
or another court.
In addition, SB 1769 allows the local court to develop
the criteria for acceptance into, continuing
participation in, and graduation from a mental health
court program. This bill provides that the mental health
court shall use existing designated staff, including but
not limited to a presiding judge, prosecutor, public
defender, county mental health liaison and probation
officer. The county mental health department would be
required to provide initial and ongoing training
pertaining to mental illness for the designated staff.
The single point of contact required for mental health
courts funded through this bill would be the point at
which defendants with mental disabilities may receive
court-ordered treatment and support services in
connection with diversion from prosecution, sentencing
alternatives, or a term of probation.
3.Stated Need for the Bill:
According to the author, California spends in excess of
$315 million annually on persons with mental illness who
are repeatedly placed in county jails for violations of
the law, often quite minor. The author's stated purpose
in introducing SB 1769 is to reduce these costs by
encouraging counties to develop a specialized mental
health court which would identify appropriate mentally
ill offenders, place them into appropriate
community-based programs, and monitor their compliance
with the treatment program. The author argues a person's
untreated mental illness is often directly responsible
for the behavior leading to arrest, yet increasing demand
for jail space typically leads early release of offenders
with mental illness who are returned to the community
without services or supports and, thus, are likely to
re-offend.
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4.Data submitted by the author:
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According to a joint report of the National Alliance
for the Mentally Ill and the Public Citizen's Health
Research Group, based on a survey of jails, an
estimated 7.2% of inmates were reported to suffer
from serious mental illness. Nearly one-third of the
jails surveyed had seriously mentally ill individuals
in custody without filing criminal charges against
them; most others held inmates on lesser charges
such as disorderly conduct, trespassing, and
drunkenness. More than 20% of jails have no access
to mental health services of any kind and most law
enforcement officers are not provided specialized
training on mental illness. According to a report of
the American Bar Association, despite the best
intentions of prison officials, inmates with mental
illness are often abused by other inmates, are
exposed to deadly diseases, or commit suicide
( American Bar Association Journal , "Special
Treatment," June 1998).
In California, a report of the Pacific Research
Institute estimates the total impact of offenders
with untreated mental illness on the criminal justice
and corrections system to be $1.2 billion and $1.8
billion. It is also estimated that between 7.2% and
15% of county inmates have a serious mental illness
and that, conservatively, 10% of all arrestees are
seriously mentally ill (Pacific Research Institute
for Public Policy in "Corrections, Criminal Justice,
and the Mentally Ill: Some Observations About Costs
in California," September 1966).
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS
1.This bill was previously heard in the Senate Public
Safety Committee (passed out of that Committee on a vote
of 4-0).
2.Pending legislation, SB 2062 (Perata), would establish a
program for juveniles similar to the MIOCRG program.
That bill passed this Committee on April 12, 2000.
POSITIONS
Support: California Council of Community Mental
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Health Agencies
California Healthcare Association
California Psychiatric Association
California Psychological Association
Mental Health Association in California
Peace Officers Research Association of
California (PORAC)
Oppose: None reported
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