BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 1769
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 9, 2000

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS 
                              Carole Migden, Chairwoman

                    SB 1769 (Chesbro) - As Amended:  June 7, 2000 

          Policy Committee:                             Public  
          SafetyVote:5-2
                       Health                                     9-5

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:   
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill:

          1)Allows, as a component of a comprehensive mental health plan  
            for each county, the development and implementation of a  
            mental health court and specifies the objectives and  
            requirements of such a court.

          2)Requires the Board of Corrections (BOC) to encourage counties  
            to submit crime reduction grant proposals that establish or  
            implement a mental health court.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)Negligible costs for the BOC to encourage counties to include  
            mental health courts in grant proposals, but by requiring the  
            BOC - which awards the grants - to encourage counties to  
            propose mental health courts, it can be argued that this bill  
            essentially creates a new program by redirecting funds from an  
            existing program. To the extent the bill redirects funding,  
            the bill is a Suspense File candidate. 

          2)No cost to authorize counties to include mental health courts  
            as part of a comprehensive mental health plan.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  . The author hopes to encourage mental health court  
            grant proposals, noting that in July 1999, the U.S. Department  
            of Justice reported that there were about 11,500 mentally ill  








                                                                  SB 1769
                                                                  Page  2

            inmates in California county jails.  According to the Pacific  
            Research Institute, California's annual jail and probation  
            costs for mentally ill offenders exceed $300 million.

           1)Background  . In 1998, the Legislature initiated a $30 million  
            program to reduce crime, jail crowding and criminal justice  
            costs related to mentally ill offenders by establishing the  
            Mentally Ill Offender Crime Reduction Grant program (MIOCRG),  
            which requires the BOC to provide competitive grants to local  
            strategies for addressing recidivism among mentally ill  
            offenders. The 1999-00 state budget provided an additional $27  
            million to MIOCRG and the 2000-01 state budget appropriated  
            another $50 million.  

           1)Issue  . Since the point of  MIOCRG is to encourage  
            locally-developed mental health proposals, why should the  
            Legislature require the state to encourage one proposal over  
            another? The committee should consider deleting Section 2 of  
            the bill to encourage and protect local autonomy in this area.

           1)Mental Health Court.   This bill specifies that a mental health  
            court should provide a single point of contact where a  
            defendant with a mental disability may receive court-ordered  
            treatment and services in connection with a diversion from  
            prosecution, a sentencing alternative, or a term of probation  
            and meet the following objectives:

             a)   Increased cooperation between the criminal justice and  
               mental health systems.
             b)   Faster case processing.
             c)   Improved access to services.
             d)   Reduced recidivism.

           1)Recent Experience  .  Several counties are beginning to operate  
            mental health courts. As of yet, there are no substantive  
            evaluations. 



           


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Geoff Long / APPR. / (916)319-2081