HB 349

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to a workgroup on forensic mental health;
3	providing for creation of a workgroup to review state
4	policy and budgeting issues affecting adults with serious
5	mental illness who also have involvement with the state
6	criminal justice system; providing for administrative
7	oversight and assistance; providing for membership,
8	organization, and meetings; specifying that members serve
9	at their own expense; providing for certain workgroup
10	expenses; authorizing field trips; specifying components
11	of the review; authorizing use of outside research
12	organizations; providing for interim and final reports;
13	providing for future termination of the workgroup and
14	repeal of act; providing an effective date.
15
16	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
17
18	Section 1.  (1)  There is created a workgroup to review
19	state policy and budgeting issues affecting adults with serious
20	mental illness who also have involvement with the state criminal
21	justice system. The Secretary of Children and Family Services,
22	in conjunction with the Secretary of Corrections and the
23	Secretary of Health Care Administration, shall oversee and
24	provide staff and other administrative assistance to the
25	workgroup.
26	(2)  The workgroup shall consist of the following members:
27	two members from the Department of Children and Family Services;
28	two members from the Agency for Health Care Administration; two
29	members from the Department of Corrections; one member from the
30	Florida Sheriffs Association; two members from the Florida
31	Prosecuting Attorneys Association, one of whom shall be a state
32	attorney; two members from the Florida Public Defender
33	Association, one of whom shall be a public defender; one member
34	from the Florida Council for Community Mental Health; one member
35	from the Florida Psychiatric Society; one member from the
36	Florida Assisted Living Affiliation; one member appointed by the
37	director of the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government
38	Accountability; one member appointed by the Chief Justice of the
39	Florida Supreme Court; one member from NAMI Florida; one member
40	from Florida Legal Services, Inc.; two members appointed by the
41	Speaker of the House of Representatives; two members appointed
42	by the Senate President; and two members appointed by the
43	Governor.
44	(3)(a)  Members of the workgroup shall serve without
45	compensation for such service. Any member of the workgroup who
46	is a public employee is entitled to reimbursement for per diem
47	and travel expenses as provided in s. 112.061.
48	(b)  Expenses of the workgroup, other than member travel
49	expenses, shall be paid from funds appropriated to the
50	Department of Children and Family Services, the Department of
51	Corrections, and the Agency for Health Care Administration for
52	that purpose.
53	(4)(a)  The workgroup shall organize and conduct its
54	meetings in accordance with Robert's Rules of Order.
55	(b)  The chairperson may appoint subcommittees. The
56	workgroup or a subcommittee may conduct field trips of state
57	facilities at the expense of its members.
58	(5)  The review conducted by the workgroup under this
59	section shall include:
60	(a)  The identification of all state funds being expended
61	on the care of adults with mental illnesses who have legal
62	involvement with state and county courts, including funds
63	expended on care in any correctional facility and funds expended
64	on medication, courts, attorneys, state institutions, community-
65	based programs, and Medicaid services.
66	(b)  A detailed examination of community-based service
67	delivery systems, including utilization issues, housing issues,
68	psychiatric emergency crisis response outcomes, effective
69	practices, and programs targeting individuals at risk for court
70	or legal involvement.
71	(c)  A review of the data and recommendations of the
72	research on factors and trends impacting the use of jails,
73	prisons, and forensic mental health care to manage the needs of
74	adults with mental illness.
75	(d)  A review of the criminal code, including penalties and
76	sentencing guidelines, and other laws pertaining to the forensic
77	mentally ill to assess where changes could be made to protect
78	public safety while ensuring that the needs of the mentally ill
79	are met in a cost-effective manner, including eliminating the
80	use of prisons as a means of caring for these individuals and
81	facilitating state budget transfers between criminal justice and
82	behavioral health allocations.
83	(e)  With the assistance of the Supreme Court's Mental
84	Health Subcommittee of the Steering Committee on Families and
85	Children in the Court, the identification of programs,
86	practices, and innovative solutions emerging in the state that
87	would reduce the need for incarceration, improve cost-
88	effectiveness, and help reduce the impact on the state budget
89	and improve public safety.
90	(f)  The consideration of innovative proposals that would
91	help the state optimize the use of state funding by examining
92	the use of special pilot projects, mental health courts, changes
93	in emergency psychiatric care, new approaches to law enforcement
94	practices and court diversion programs, and the use of modified
95	sentencing or waivers relative to the criminal code and local
96	state attorneys.
97	(g)  A review of the impact that substance abuse issues
98	have on the system and methods to create integration and use
99	Medicaid waivers like the Medicaid 1915c Home and Community-
100	Based Waiver to provide a more integrated approach to treating
101	substance abuse in the community.
102	(h)  The consideration of proposals to use both community
103	and institutional funding to help construct a system that will
104	ensure public safety, reduce state costs, and provide more
105	effective outcomes.
106	(i)  The use of the involuntary outpatient commitment
107	requirements under the Baker Act and the need for changes to
108	those requirements that would help reduce or mitigate the
109	potential for court involvement in this process. This review
110	shall include the use of the Florida Medication Algorithm
111	Project and its implications for improved outcomes relative to
112	individuals at risk for court-related involvement.
113	(j)  The current status of the use of electronic medical
114	records, the need for broader use of electronic medical records
115	for individuals at risk of court involvement, and the fiscal
116	impact in terms of savings this type of client information
117	system would have on reducing state expenditures and improving
118	access to care for those considered most at risk.
119	(6)  The Department of Children and Family Services, the
120	Department of Corrections, and the Agency for Health Care
121	Administration may use outside research organizations,
122	including, but not limited to, the Office of Program Policy
123	Analysis and Government Accountability, to help collect
124	information for the workgroup to use in assessing the factors
125	contributing to the rise in the numbers of adults with serious
126	mental illness in the criminal justice system.
127	(7)  The workgroup shall make recommendations in its
128	interim and final reports regarding proposed changes to state
129	policy and procedures that would improve public safety through
130	better integration of behavioral health care at all levels of
131	the criminal justice system, including any specific
132	recommendations for legislation. The workgroup shall submit an
133	interim report with findings and recommendations to the
134	President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of
135	representatives, and Governor no later than January 5, 2010, and
136	its final report with recommendations and findings by January 5,
137	2011.
138	(8)  The workgroup terminates and this section expires July
139	1, 2011.
140	Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.