Washington State

House of Representatives

Office of Program Research

BILL

ANALYSIS

Human Services Committee

HB 2865

This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent.

Brief Summary of Bill

Expands the jurisdiction of the mental health court to expressly include offenders who have intellectual or developmental disabilities or who have suffered a traumatic brain injury.
Requires the Department of Social and Health Services to adopt rules and policies to allow, upon release from confinement, the reinstatement of medical assistance for a person with an intellectual disability or traumatic brain injury who has been enrolled in medical assistance immediately prior to confinement.
Requires jail staff to make every effort to inform the local prosecutor's office and, if known, the public defender's office, if the jail's screening procedures have determined that a person in its custody has or may have an intellectual or developmental disability or a traumatic brain injury.
Requires jail staff, upon transfer of a person to the Department of Corrections or another jail facility, to make every effort to inform the staff of the receiving entity of any necessary accommodations identified by the transferring jail staff.

Background:

Mental Health Court.

The mental health court is a voluntary program for nonviolent offenders charged with felony and non-felony offenses. Some of the goals of the mental health court are to protect public safety, reduce the use of jail, and repeated interaction with the criminal justice system for mentally ill persons. Offenders involved in mental health court also get connected or reconnected with needed mental health services and improve their likelihood of ongoing success with treatment, access to housing, and to other critical support.

Medical Assistance Benefits.

Medical Assistance benefits allow for medical care as provided under Title XIX of the federal Social Security Act. If an eligible person is booked into a correctional facility, he or she does not receive state-funded services while in custody, and is no longer eligible for Medical Assistance. In 2005 the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) began to adopt rules to expedite the enrollment or re-enrollment in Medical Assistance of persons leaving correctional facilities who had a mental disorder. In January 2009, the DSHS released a report in which is proposed a five-phase model for promptly reinstating the eligibility for any person who was receiving medical assistance at the time of incarceration.

House Bill 2078 Work Group.

During the 2009 interim, a work group made up of representatives from the Department of Corrections, local jails, advocates for persons with developmental and intellectual disabilities and traumatic brain injuries, and others met to review and address the special needs of persons with developmental and intellectual disabilities and traumatic brain injuries when they come into contact with local and state correctional facilities. The group has produced an interim report with recommendations for potential next steps, and continues to meet regarding the potential for the development of effective screening tools for this population when they enter a correctional or detention facility.

Summary of Bill:

Mental Health Court.

Offenders who have been charged with a nonviolent felony or non-felony and who have an intellectual or developmental disability or traumatic brain injury are eligible to participate in mental health court if the offender would benefit from treatment related to his or her intellectual or developmental disability or traumatic brain injury.

Jails.

Jails must adopt rules and policies that provide that if jail personnel determine, through screening procedures, that a person in custody has or may have a developmental disability or traumatic brain injury, the jail must make every effort to: (1) notify the local prosecutor's office, and the public defender's office, if known; and (2) when transferring a person to the custody of the Department of Corrections of another jail facility, to provide to the receiving facility any information regarding necessary accommodations that have been identified.

Re-enrollment in Medical Assistance.

The DSHS is required to adopt policies and rules to expedite the re-enrollment of persons with intellectual or developmental disabilities or traumatic brain injury prior to release from a state or local correctional facility. This must occur if such persons were enrolled in medical assistance immediately prior to being taken into custody. This requirement adds to the DSHS's existing requirement to expedite such re-enrollment for persons who have a mental disorder.