Five freshman legislators on the Wyoming House Judiciary Committee voted down a bill Wednesday that would have given courts an option to send people who commit minor crimes into mental health treatment before they’re convicted.
House Bill 49 stands a much slimmer chance of being entertained by the Wyoming House of Representatives and passed into law, with five members of the committee voting to kill it and four voting to pass it to the floor.
Detractors worried the bill would grow government and invite exploitation of the justice system.
Proponents urged its passage to get mental-illness sufferers help early rather than clogging the jails with them.
The bill proposed to expand the state’s Court Supervised Treatment Program Act, or drug court, to include a diversion court provision, which would be optional. It would have authorized courts to offer mental health treatment programs for people who have been charged with minor crimes, Elisa Butler, Wyoming State Courts Administrator, told the committee during its Wednesday hearing.
A pilot version of the program out of Campbell County graduated one person last year. Twelve people were referred to it, six were screened for it and two were accepted into it as of August, says a legislative summary on the program.
Butler indicated two more were admitted to it after that point. One of the inductees didn’t graduate because he or she needed a more acute level of care than the program could give, said Butler.
At What Cost
Rep. Laurie Bratten, R-Sheridan, questioned Butler about whether HB 49 would grow government by expanding programs meant for drug-addicted offenders to the much-larger population of mental-illness sufferers.
“If you add that on, it’s going to substantially increase the cost (in public money),” Bratten reasoned. “Just the sheer numbers.”
Bill proponents countered by emphasizing that the diversion program would still be optional, and there’s no appropriation amount tied to the bill yet. The money would come out of the Wyoming Department of Health’s budget for mental health provider contracts, Butler said.
Rep. Lloyd Larsen, R-Lander, presented to the committee as a bill proponent.
He said mental illness is rising faster than government can address it all, and Wyoming should consider whether it has a duty to address that, and to what extent.
“As we’ve seen, and as we sense, and as we have anticipated an increase of people needing mental health services,” said Larsen. “We’ve come back and said for the state dollars, these general fund dollars, we want these populations served.”
That decision, to back a bill that would see low-level offenders who are in and out of jail without mental treatment now served through a court program, came after speaking with local mental health providers, Larsen said.
Cops Want It
Allen Thompson, executive director of the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police, said his group backs the diversion program, because it would help simplify jail populations and prevent jail-deputy burnout.
He said people should give the pilot program a chance to get established before making judgments from its graduation rate.
It’s uncertain whether sheriffs are looking at the cost of individual jail stays specifically, as they hope for this program; they’re likelier to be looking at the overall makeup of the jail, he said.
“Most important for our sheriffs and their staff is the reduction on the impact of that mentally ill person in the jail,” said Thompson. “They’re very time consuming. They take a lot of staff one-on-one attention.”
Jail deputies’ morale and retention rates can suffer if they are compelled to be “social workers” when they signed up for law enforcement, he said.
Yeah, But …
Rep Tom Kelly, R-Sheridan, said he has concerns about mental illness, including in his own community. But, he said, “I fear the unintended consequences of people manipulating the system.”
He said he’s concerned people may try to avoid conviction or gain other benefits after “simply doing an internet search” on what to say to get a mental illness diagnosis.
It could be a “newfound loophole,” Kelly said.
Roll Call
Rep. Lee Filer, R-Cheyenne, recommended a “do pass” motion to send the bill to the House floor.
Rep. Ken Chestek, D-Laramie, seconded that. He told the committee that passing the bill is the right thing to do.
The five voting against were Bratten and Kelly, and Reps. Marlene Brady, R-Green River; Jayme Lien, R-Casper; and Joe Webb, R-Lyman.
The four voting in favor were Filer, Chestek and Committee Chair Rep. Art Washut, R-Casper; and Rep. Daniel Singh, R-Cheyenne, who gave an absentee aye vote.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
