Senate Judiciary reviews House amendments to S193, keeps DOC as three‑year interim lead

May 27 — The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday spent most of its meeting reviewing House amendments to S193, a bill establishing a forensic facility and a statutory framework for competency restoration and not‑guilty‑by‑reason‑of‑insanity (NGI) patients. Eric, legislative counsel for the Office of Legislative Council, walked the panel through multiple House amendments and two substantial floor amendments that must be integrated into a single packet before the committee acts.

Eric said the package requires short‑term and long‑term systems. "For the first three years... DOC being the lead body," he said, describing a temporary arrangement in which the Department of Corrections would provide security and supervise individuals in a bridge competency restoration program while clinical services are led by the Agency of Human Services (AHS) medical director in consultation with DMH and other AHS departments. Emergency rules to operate the interim program must be adopted by Dec. 31, 2026, and go into effect July 1, 2027.

The bill as amended also sets a statutory transition: DOC's wider supervisory role sunsets on July 1, 2029, at which point the long‑term model would place primary clinical supervision with AHS and its medical director. Eric told the committee AHS must submit a feasibility plan detailing location, design, staffing and cost by Jan. 15, 2027, and must report on both the emergency rules and the feasibility plan to the Joint Justice Oversight Committee at its August and November meetings.

A substantive legal change in the House amendments drew particular attention: the state's burden remains to prove by clear and convincing evidence that a person has a qualifying condition and that release would pose a substantial risk of bodily injury, but the bill no longer requires proof that the qualifying condition caused the risk. "They wanted philosophically as much as anything to separate those that you may have this cognitive disability. That's not necessarily why you're dangerous," Eric said, summarizing Human Services' rationale for severing the causality requirement.

The House also added a third court option for certain nonrestorable defendants: when a person's qualifying condition is an intellectual disability and the court finds the person nonrestorable and dangerous, the court may commit the person to the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living under a process that parallels existing Act 248 procedures. Eric said that portion of the package is lengthy because it mirrors the current statutory process for such commitments.

Other House changes include allowing the defense to obtain independent evaluations whenever evaluations are statutorily required, adding victim‑notification provisions so victims are reasonably notified and offered an opportunity to be heard, and extending the initial NGI hearing window in some instances from 72 hours to up to 60 days — a change that several members probed during the meeting.

Committee members also reviewed licensing and regulatory details for a permanent forensic facility. The amended bill designates the facility to be licensed as a Therapeutic Community Residence (TCR), a license type that the counsel said "isn't a perfect fit" for a forensic setting and may require rule modifications. Eric urged that the feasibility plan address whether the facility should be new, colocated with an existing corrections facility, or otherwise sited and staffed.

No formal vote was taken; members said they want time to integrate and read the roughly 60 pages of amendments and floor changes before reporting the bill. The committee discussed calendar timing and whether the integrated packet could be set on the calendar for the next day once documents are compiled. Members said they will continue review and meet again to prepare a report and adjust statutory language if necessary before further action.

Next steps: staff must compile and integrate the amendment documents, AHS must promulgate emergency rules and file the feasibility plan by Jan. 15, 2027, and the Joint Justice Oversight Committee will receive progress reports in August and November. The long‑term statutory provisions affecting supervision take full effect on July 1, 2029, unless the Legislature amends or extends those dates.