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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR
Komadina
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
2/09/07
HB
SHORT TITLE
13
th
District Mental Health Court
SB 907
ANALYST C. Sanchez
APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)
Appropriation
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY07
FY08
$250.0
Recurring
General Fund
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Relates to SB 206, 1
st
Judicial District Mental Health Court
Duplicates HB 148
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Administrative Office of the Court (AOC)
13
th
Judicial District Court
Department of Corrections (DC)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
Senate Bill 907 appropriates $250,000 from the general fund for the purpose of establishing and
operating an adult mental health court program in the thirteenth judicial district. $250,000 would
be appropriated to the thirteenth judicial district for salary and benefits of staff, contractual
services for treatment costs; and to fund other operating costs. Any unexpended or
unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2008 shall revert to the general fund.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
Of the $250,000 appropriation, $236,300 is recurring for personal services and benefits for a
program manager and court clinician 2 (2 FTEs), contractual services for treatment costs, and
operating costs for this program. This appropriation increases the budget of the thirteenth
judicial district court.
pg_0002
Senate Bill 907 – Page
2
The cost of incarcerating mentally ill offenders in jail will be reduced substantially due to their
earlier release from jail and effective use of existing resources in the community. The costs of
treatment while inmates are incarcerated will be avoided which, while not effecting the court
budget, will be a cost avoidance for the counties, since Medicare/Medicaid benefits stop while
people are incarcerated.
The state will likely avoid future costs as the program successfully serves more clients.
Nationally, 16% of people that are in jail have a serious mental illness. Since there are
approximately 150 state prisoners incarcerated in the Sandoval County Detention Center,
approximately 25 would have been potential candidates for diversion and treatment under a
mental health court system. At least half of the people in jails have a co-occurring substance
abuse addiction and the mental illness frequently needs to be primary treatment emphasis.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
This bill reflects a commitment by the Thirteenth Judicial District to address the problem of
untreated mental illness and its affect on the community.
This bill funds a mental health program that reduces the incidents of arrest and incarceration of
repeat offenders with mental illness using the Court to mandate appropriate treatment rather than
incarceration. This appropriation would allow the thirteenth judicial district court to establish
and operate an adult mental health court program.
Mental Health courts are part of the growing national trend towards therapeutic justice programs,
or problem-solving courts, which are modeled on the nationally successful drug court programs.
Like drug courts, mental health courts combine treatment with the coercive power of the
judiciary and close supervision to ensure participants adhere to the treatment plan and other
program requirements.
As with drug courts, mental health courts require close collaboration between the courts, the
public defender’s and district attorney’s offices. And because of the time demands of such
programs, their budgets often include funds for all three agencies as is the case with this bill.
Such programs also require treatment staff, in the form of psychologists or psychiatrists, family
counselors, as well as court staff to administer and run the program who are trained for mental
health diversion or supervised release services. This legislation is not contained in the judiciary’s
unified budget.
PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS
FY07 is the fourth year that the courts are participating in performance based budgeting. This
bill may have an impact on the measures of the district courts in the following areas:
cases disposed as a percentage of cases filed
percent change in case filings by case types
clearance rate
The success of the program will be measured by tracking the success of treatment and medication
compliance and continued checking of court records for recidivism.
pg_0003
Senate Bill 907 – Page
3
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
There is an immediate administrative impact on the court resulting from added judicial and staff
time needed to dispose of these types of cases in keeping with the dictates of the mental health
court program. Over the long term, successful treatment of program participants should lead to a
decrease in court workload as such participants recover sufficiently to lead more normal, law-
abiding lives.
RELATIONSHIP
SB 206, 1st Judicial District Mental Health Court
DUPLICATES
HB 148
WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL
Status quo. Mentally ill offenders will remain in jail longer than required due to insufficient staff
to arrange for aftercare.
Untreated or inadequately treated mentally ill offenders will likely re-offend. The program will
reduce the number of mentally ill offenders who are jailed repeatedly. . . “the revolving door."
This occurrence increases the risk to the community and perpetuates chronic re-entry into the
criminal justice system.
POSSIBLE QUESTIONS
Is the 13
th
Judicial District Court equipped to house and effectively implement this program.
CS/csd