Michigan House bills would rewrite competency-to-stand-trial procedures and let counties use outside examiners when the state center falls behind
The nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency summarized three bills sponsored by Representatives Calley, Hammoud and Wozniak and referred to the Judiciary Committee. They would move the competency-to-stand-trial provisions out of the Mental Health Code and into the Code of Criminal Procedure, with revisions, and repeal duplicative juvenile competency provisions.
Among the changes, for jailed defendants, a court-ordered examination would have to be scheduled within 30 days rather than the current 60, a change the analysis frames around examinations tied to an insanity claim. If the Center for Forensic Psychiatry cannot finish within that window, a court could appoint independent qualified personnel, with the county's cost deducted from its yearly transmittal to the state, and courts would report each such instance to the State Court Administrative Office. The bills would also require a hearing on placement and bond conditions whenever incompetence is raised.
The fiscal analysis notes that the 2019-20 health department budget already includes money to hire seven more forensic evaluators at the center to ease the current evaluation waiting list. The analysts expected minimal to moderate state costs from outside examiners and an indeterminate effect on local courts.
Source: COMPENTENCY EVALUATION REVISIONS — Michigan House Fiscal Agency
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