j_lc_2016a_2016-10-14t09:09:40z4 Hearing Summary

Date: 10/14/2016

10:29 AM -- Mental Illness in the Criminal Justice System Oversight Committee



Representative Singer, chair of the Mental Illness in the Criminal Justice System Oversight Committee, presented Bills A, B, C, and D recommended by the committee. The summary report prepared for the Legislative Council Committee, copies of the bills, and the committee's charge can be found in Attachment D.



161014 AttachD.pdf



The bills are as follows:



Bill A - Staffing Task Force Mental Illness Justice System. This bill modifies current law concerning funding and staff support for the advisory task force. Specifically, the bill:

· allows the Office of Behavioral Health in the Colorado Department of Human Service (CDHS) and any other state agency with an active representative on the task force to receive and expend gifts, grants, and donations in support of the task force;

· permits the Office of Behavioral Health in the CDHS to provide staff assistance to the task force within existing appropriations;

· clarifies that the existing Treatment of Persons with Mental Illness in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Systems Cash Fund may receive moneys appropriated or transferred by the General Assembly; and

· removes language that prohibits the transfer of unexpended moneys in the fund to the General Fund or another fund.

Bill B - Medication Mental Illness in Justice Systems. This bill requires CDHS and Department of Corrections (DOC) to promulgate rules to require providers under each department’s authority to use a medication formulary that has been developed collaboratively by departments, agencies, and providers. The bill allows for patient-specific information to be shared between various entities for the sole purpose of ensuring medication consistency. CDHS, along with other state entities, must develop a plan by which patient-specific information can be shared electronically, while still complying with confidentiality requirements. The department is to encourage certain providers to utilize cooperative purchasing for the medication formulary, unless the provider can obtain the medication elsewhere at a lower cost and is required to conduct annual and biannual reviews of the formulary to address any urgent concerns related to the formulary, update the formulary, and ensure compliance with the formulary.



Bill C - Competency Restoration Services and Education. This bill establishes the Office of Behavioral Health in CDHS as the agency responsible for restoration education and the coordination of competency restoration services and sets forth the duties, responsibilities, and reporting requirements of the office. The bill adds the requirement that provision of restoration services and a juvenile’s participation in those services occur in a timely manner. The bill requires the court to review cases for juveniles in custody every 30 days. The bill also directs the court to consider whether restoration of competency should occur on an out-patient or out-of-custody basis for defendants on bond or summons.



Bill D - Assistance To Released Mentally Ill Offenders. This bill directs the Division of Housing in the Department of Local Affairs to establish a program to provide vouchers and supportive services to persons with mental illness who are being released from the DOC or jails. CDHS, in conjunction with the Department of Corrections, is to implement reentry programs to assist persons with a mental illness who are being released from the DOC or jail.