Florida Senate - 2022                                    SB 1600
       
       
        
       By Senator Bradley
       
       
       
       
       
       5-01583-22                                            20221600__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to treatment of defendants adjudicated
    3         incompetent to stand trial; amending s. 916.13, F.S.;
    4         providing that a forensic client who is being held in
    5         a jail awaiting admission to a Department of Children
    6         and Families facility and who is likely to regain
    7         competence to proceed may receive treatment at any
    8         facility designated by the department; providing an
    9         effective date.
   10          
   11  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   12  
   13         Section 1. Subsection (2) of section 916.13, Florida
   14  Statutes, is amended to read:
   15         916.13 Involuntary commitment of defendant adjudicated
   16  incompetent.—
   17         (2) A defendant who has been charged with a felony and who
   18  has been adjudicated incompetent to proceed due to mental
   19  illness, and who meets the criteria for involuntary commitment
   20  under this chapter, may be committed to the department, and the
   21  department shall retain and treat the defendant. For a forensic
   22  client who is held in a jail awaiting admission to a facility of
   23  the department, and who is likely to regain competence to
   24  proceed in the foreseeable future, restoration treatment may be
   25  provided at any facility deemed appropriate by the department
   26  secretary.
   27         (a) Immediately after receipt of a completed copy of the
   28  court commitment order containing all documentation required by
   29  the applicable Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, the
   30  department shall request all medical information relating to the
   31  defendant from the jail. The jail shall provide the department
   32  with all medical information relating to the defendant within 3
   33  business days after receipt of the department’s request or at
   34  the time the defendant enters the physical custody of the
   35  department, whichever is earlier.
   36         (b) Within 6 months after the date of admission and at the
   37  end of any period of extended commitment, or at any time the
   38  administrator or his or her designee determines that the
   39  defendant has regained competency to proceed or no longer meets
   40  the criteria for continued commitment, the administrator or
   41  designee shall file a report with the court pursuant to the
   42  applicable Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure.
   43         (c) A competency hearing must be held within 30 days after
   44  the court receives notification that the defendant is competent
   45  to proceed or no longer meets the criteria for continued
   46  commitment. The defendant must be transported to the committing
   47  court’s jurisdiction for the hearing. If the defendant is
   48  receiving psychotropic medication at a mental health facility at
   49  the time he or she is discharged and transferred to the jail,
   50  the administering of such medication must continue unless the
   51  jail physician documents the need to change or discontinue it.
   52  The jail and department physicians shall collaborate to ensure
   53  that medication changes do not adversely affect the defendant’s
   54  mental health status or his or her ability to continue with
   55  court proceedings; however, the final authority regarding the
   56  administering of medication to an inmate in jail rests with the
   57  jail physician.
   58         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.