II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1865

To provide grants to establish demonstration mental health courts.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 4, 1999

Mr. DEWINE (for himself and Mr. DOMENICI) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To provide grants to establish demonstration mental health

courts.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘America’s Law En5 forcement and Mental Health Project’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—

8 (1) fully 16 percent of all inmates in State pris9 ons and local jails suffer from mental illness, accord10 ing to a July, 1999 report, conducted by the Bureau

11 of Justice Statistics;
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1 (2) between 600,000 and 700,000 mentally ill

2 persons are annually booked in jail alone, according

3 to the American Jail Association;

4 (3) estimates say 25 to 40 percent of America’s

5 mentally ill will come into contact with the criminal

6 justice system, according to National Alliance for the

7 Mentally Ill;

8 (4) 75 percent of mentally ill inmates have been

9 sentenced to time in prison or jail or probation at

10 least once prior to their current sentence, according

11 to the Bureau of Justice Statistics in July, 1999;

12 and

13 (5) Broward County, Florida and King County,

14 Washington, have created separate Mental Health

15 Courts to place nonviolent mentally ill offenders into

16 judicially monitored in-patient and out-patient men17 tal health treatment programs, where appropriate,

18 with positive results.

19 SEC. 3. MENTAL HEALTH COURTS.

20 (a) AMENDMENT.—Part V of title I of the Omnibus

21 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 is amended

22 to read as follows:
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1 ‘‘PART V—MENTAL HEALTH

2 COURTS

3 ‘‘SEC. 2201. GRANT AUTHORITY.

4 ‘‘The Attorney General shall make grants to States,

5 State courts, local courts, units of local government, and

6 Indian tribal governments, acting directly or through

7 agreements with other public or nonprofit entities, for up

8 to 125 programs that involve—

9 ‘‘(1) continuing judicial supervision, including

10 periodic review, over preliminarily qualified offenders

11 with mental illness, mental retardation, or co-occur12 ring mental illness and substance abuse disorders,

13 who are charged with nonviolent offenses; and

14 ‘‘(2) the coordinated delivery of services, which

15 includes—

16 ‘‘(A) specialized training of law enforce17 ment and judicial personnel to identify and ad18 dress the unique needs of a mentally ill or men19 tally retarded offender;

20 ‘‘(B) voluntary outpatient or inpatient

21 mental health treatment that carries with it the

22 possibility of dismissal of charges or reduced

23 sentencing upon successful completion of treat24 ment; and
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1 ‘‘(C) centralized case management involv2 ing the consolidation of all of a mentally ill or

3 mentally retarded defendant’s cases, including

4 violations of probation, and the coordination of

5 all mental health treatment plans and social

6 services, including life skills training, such as

7 housing placement, vocational training, edu8 cation, job placement, health care, and relapse

9 prevention for each participant who requires

10 such services.

11 ‘‘SEC. 2202. DEFINITION.

12 ‘‘In this part the term ‘preliminarily qualified of13 fender with mental illness, mental retardation, or co-oc14 curring mental and substance abuse disorders’ means a

15 person who—

16 ‘‘(1)(A) previously or currently has been diag17 nosed by a qualified mental health professional as

18 having a mental illness, mental retardation, or co-oc19 curring mental illness and substance abuse dis20 orders; or

21 ‘‘(B) manifests obvious signs of mental illness,

22 mental retardation, or co-occurring mental illness

23 and substance abuse disorders during arrest or con24 finement or before any court; and

25 ‘‘(2) is deemed eligible by designated judges.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 2203. ADMINISTRATION.

2 ‘‘(a) CONSULTATION.—The Attorney General shall

3 consult with the Secretary of Health and Human Services

4 and any other appropriate officials in carrying out this

5 part.

6 ‘‘(b) USE OF COMPONENTS.—The Attorney General

7 may utilize any component or components of the Depart8 ment of Justice in carrying out this part.

9 ‘‘(c) REGULATORY AUTHORITY.—The Attorney Gen10 eral shall issue regulations and guidelines necessary to

11 carry out this part which include, but are not limited to,

12 the methodologies and outcome measures proposed for

13 evaluating each applicant program.

14 ‘‘(d) APPLICATIONS.—In addition to any other re15 quirements that may be specified by the Attorney General,

16 an application for a grant under this part shall—

17 ‘‘(1) include a long-term strategy and detailed

18 implementation plan;

19 ‘‘(2) explain the applicant’s inability to fund the

20 program adequately without Federal assistance;

21 ‘‘(3) certify that the Federal support provided

22 will be used to supplement, and not supplant, State,

23 Indian tribal, and local sources of funding that

24 would otherwise be available;
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1 ‘‘(4) identify related governmental or commu2 nity initiatives which complement or will be coordi3 nated with the proposal;

4 ‘‘(5) certify that there has been appropriate

5 consultation with all affected agencies and that there

6 will be appropriate coordination with all affected

7 agencies in the implementation of the program;

8 ‘‘(6) certify that participating offenders will be

9 supervised by one or more designated judges with re10 sponsibility for the mental health court program;

11 ‘‘(7) specify plans for obtaining necessary sup12 port and continuing the proposed program following

13 the conclusion of Federal support;

14 ‘‘(8) describe the methodology and outcome

15 measures that will be used in evaluating the pro16 gram; and

17 ‘‘(9) certify that participating first time offend18 ers without a history of a mental illness will receive

19 a mental health evaluation.

20 ‘‘SEC. 2204. APPLICATIONS.

21 ‘‘To request funds under this part, the chief executive

22 or the chief justice of a State or the chief executive or

23 chief judge of a unit of local government or Indian tribal

24 government shall submit an application to the Attorney
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1 General in such form and containing such information as

2 the Attorney General may reasonably require.

3 ‘‘SEC. 2205. FEDERAL SHARE.

4 ‘‘The Federal share of a grant made under this part

5 may not exceed 75 percent of the total costs of the pro6 gram described in the application submitted under section

7 2205 for the fiscal year for which the program receives

8 assistance under this part, unless the Attorney General

9 waives, wholly or in part, the requirement of a matching

10 contribution under this section. The use of the Federal

11 share of a grant made under this part shall be limited

12 to new expenses necessitated by the proposed program, in13 cluding the development of treatment services and the hir14 ing and training of personnel. In-kind contributions may

15 constitute a portion of the non-Federal share of a grant.

16 ‘‘SEC. 2206. GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.

17 ‘‘The Attorney General shall ensure that, to the ex18 tent practicable, an equitable geographic distribution of

19 grant awards is made that considers the special needs of

20 rural communities, Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives.

21 ‘‘SEC. 2207. REPORT.

22 ‘‘A State, Indian tribal government, or unit of local

23 government that receives funds under this part during a

24 fiscal year shall submit to the Attorney General a report
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1 in March of the following year regarding the effectiveness

2 of this part.

3 ‘‘SEC. 2208. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, TRAINING, AND EVAL4 UATION.

5 ‘‘(a) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING.—The

6 Attorney General may provide technical assistance and

7 training in furtherance of the purposes of this part.

8 ‘‘(b) EVALUATIONS.—In addition to any evaluation

9 requirements that may be prescribed for grantees, the At10 torney General may carry out or make arrangements for

11 evaluations of programs that receive support under this

12 part.

13 ‘‘(c) ADMINISTRATION.—The technical assistance,

14 training, and evaluations authorized by this section may

15 be carried out directly by the Attorney General, in collabo16 ration with the Secretary of Health and Human Services,

17 or through grants, contracts, or other cooperative arrange18 ments with other entities.’’.

19 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents

20 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets

21 Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3711 et seq.), is amended by in22 serting after part U the following:

‘‘PART V—MENTAL HEALTH COURTS

‘‘Sec. 2201. Grant authority.

‘‘Sec. 2202. Definition.

‘‘Sec. 2203. Administration.

‘‘Sec. 2204. Applications.

‘‘Sec. 2205. Federal share.

‘‘Sec. 2206. Geographic distribution.
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‘‘Sec. 2207. Report.

‘‘Sec. 2208. Technical assistance, training, and evaluation.’’.

1 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section

2 1001(a) of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe

3 Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3793(a)), is amended by

4 inserting after paragraph (19) the following:

5 ‘‘(20) There are authorized to be appropriated to

6 carry out part V, $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years

7 2000 through 2004.’’.

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