HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

190

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

ESTABLISHING A FORENSIC MENTAL HEALTH COMMISSION TO STUDY THE INTERACTION between THE MENTAL HEALTH AND PUBLIC SAFETY SYSTEMS IN hAWAII WITH RESPECT TO individuals with MENTAL ILLness.

 

WHEREAS, the Hawaii State Hospital is facing a severe overcrowding problem because eighty percent of forensics patients are sent there by court order; and

WHEREAS, the current structures of the community mental health system and the criminal justice system in Hawaii do not provide the level of supervision, monitoring, or treatment necessary to ensure the safety of individuals with mental illness or the community at large; and

WHEREAS, it is imperative that the quality of patient care at the Hawaii State Hospital be improved by eliminating overcrowding and by providing necessary community-based mental health services that are evidence-based and user friendly; and

WHEREAS, in the State of Hawaii, nearly five hundred individuals within the jurisdiction of the Adult Mental Health Division currently are on conditional release from the Hawaii State Hospital; and

WHEREAS, the number of Adult Mental Health Division clients on conditional release significantly exceeds all national per capita norms; and

WHEREAS, the placement and retention of individuals with mental illness in many cases inappropriately criminalizes them and results in unnecessary commitment and retention in inpatient mental health care and correctional facilities; and

WHEREAS, the criminalization of people with mental illness contributes to their inappropriate and excessive confinement in the Hawaii State Hospital and inpatient care and correctional facilities; and

WHEREAS, lengthy stays in correctional facilities and the Hawaii State Hospital are a financial burden to the State, and may be tantamount to the incarceration of mentally ill individuals without providing treatment; and

WHEREAS, processing and following up with criminal complaints for individuals with mental illness can have significant fiscal and time management impacts on the Judiciary's limited fiscal and personnel resources; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, the Senate concurring, that the Legislature establish a Forensic Mental Health Commission to study the interaction between the state mental health and public safety systems with respect to individuals with mental illness; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the purpose of the Commission is to identify and make recommendations regarding legal, structural, and operational changes in the state mental health and public safety systems to better address the needs of the forensic mental health population; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the Commission's responsibilities shall include, but not be limited to, conducting a review of information and making recommendations regarding:

(1) Content, process, and oversight procedures for the training and certification of Forensic Mental Health Examiners;

(2) Mechanisms for funding, selection, oversight, and management of Forensic Mental Health Examiners;

(3) A system of mental health court services;

(4) Responsibility for pre-adjudication mental health interventions and services for individuals within the public safety system;

(5) Proposed amendments to statues and regulations; and

(6) The funding, structure, and responsibility for post-discharge and post-release aftercare services for mentally ill individuals; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the commission shall be chaired by a representative of the Department of Health and that membership of the Commission shall consist of individuals interested and knowledgeable in forensic mental health issues, including, at a minimum, representatives from:

(1) The Judiciary;

(2) The Department of Public Safety;

(3) The Adult Mental Health Division of the Department of Health;

(4) The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division of the Department of Health;

(5) The Hawaii Disability Rights Center;

(6) The Hawaii Mental Health Association;

(7) Forensic medical health service providers, as identified by the chair;

(8) Qualified mental health consumer advocates who have been involved with the criminal justice system, as identified by the chair; and

(9) Other organizations, as identified by the chair, to serve on the commission or to participate on an ad hoc basis;

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chief Justice, the Director of Public Safety, the Director of Health, the Chief of the Adult Mental Health Division, the Chief of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division, and the Disability Rights Commission.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Forensic Mental Health Commission