SB 944

ON APRIL 21, 2025, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENTS #2 AND #3 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 1089, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #2 rewrites this bill to require t he department of mental health and substance abuse services to establish a mental health evaluation process for a community mental health center or qualified mental health professional to evaluate a defendant convicted of d omestic assault, c hild abuse, agg ravated child abuse, c ruelty to animals, a ggravated cruelty to animals. This amendment requires a court in which a person is convicted of any such offense to order the offender to undergo a mental health evaluation prior to the sentencing hearing. If a defendant has previously been evaluated pursuant to this amendment , then the defendant will not be evaluated . The mental health evaluation required by this amendment is subject to the department's workforce availability and funding, which must be evalu ated quarterly by the department for sufficiency to provide the services required by this amendment . If the department determines it does not have the workforce availability or funding to conduct the mental health evaluations following the quarterly evalu ation , then the department is required to create and submit a report regarding the insufficient workforce availability or funding to provide the services to the chief clerk of each house of the general assembly. A center or qualified mental health profe ssional that conducts an evaluation pursuant to this amendment must submit to the court an evaluation report with any recommended mental health services for the defendant. If the center or the qualified mental health professional recommends mental health services, then the court may include such mental health recommendations as part of sentencing. This amendment requires that a defendant pay for the cost of the evaluation and court-ordered treatment, if applicable, pursuant to this amendment. If the co urt finds the defendant is indigent, then the department is required to pay the community mental health center or the qualified mental health professional for the cost of the evaluation and court-ordered treatment, if applicable. This amendment authoriz es the department to promulgate rules to effectuate its purposes . For purposes of promulgating rules, this amendment's provisions take effect upon becoming a law. For all other purposes, this amendment's provisions take effect January 1, 2026. AMENDMENT #3 authorizes the department to use emergency rulemaking procedures to promulgate rules for the implementation of this bill .