studies in discipline

With the 2009 legislative session winding down, many bills’ fates have already been determined and most public hearings are complete. Both the House and Senate must act on all bills by Thursday, June 4, or take one more week to form Committees of Conference by June 10. That will buy the Legislature two additional weeks to work out any differences between the chambers, or let remaining bills die. Notable bills currently in committees of conference are HB 648 to legalize the medical use of marijuana, and HB 310, the crucial pivot point in a “gay marriage” suite of bills.

On Wednesday, May 27, the Senate is likely to to vote to establish a handful of study committees. These committees provide longer timelines for in-depth review of various topics. Most of their reports will be due in the fall, allowing time for any resulting legislation to be written for consideration in next year’s session.

school discipline

While arguments about education funding carry on, a debate about out-of-school suspensions may gain new weight with House Bill 332, sponsored by Rep. Barbara Shaw (D-Manchester) and recommended for passage by the Senate Education Committee.

The bill would establish a 21-person commission to study the types of rule-breaking that result in suspensions, quantifying non-violent or non-alcohol or -drug related infractions. The commission would also look into how the loss of instructional time affects kids, how alternative forms of discipline might prevent suspensions, and what can be done to help suspended students catch up on missed schoolwork.

mental health courts

A commission to evaluate mental health courts is proposed in House Bill 171, sponsored by Rep. Cindy Rosenwald (D-Nashua). In addition to evaluating the courts, the commission would set standards for how they should operate to meet their goal of improving access to community-based mental health programs for nonviolent criminal offenders. The four mental health courts currently in Keene, Nashua, Portsmouth and Rochester do not necessarily share consistent practices, Rosenwald explained in an interview earlier this winter.

“If you’re going to do something that involves medical treatment or health care, you should follow evidence-based standards. I don’t think this is so different,” she said. The commission would compile data from the existing courts and examine whether they are expediting treatment while preserving due process and effectively reducing recidivism.

About half of the incarcerated population in New Hampshire is diagnosed with mental illness, according to Rosenwald. She cited statistics from the Women’s Policy Institute that 68 percent of incarcerated women have a diagnosis. Men have a lower documented rate, but mental illness among juvenile offenders is as high as 80 percent, she said.

“If someone has a mental illness and is engaging in criminal behavior but not a violent act, is it a good idea to have these people become part of the corrections system?” She said the consensus was, “there are many people for whom treatment would be more appropriate than incarceration.”

Writing for the minority of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. William O’Brien (R-Mont Vernon) maintains that both the commission to study mental health courts and the courts themselves are unwarranted and too costly. “(C)ourts already may order all of the treatment and substitutes for incarceration that is anticipated could be provided through mental health courts,” he said. 

The bill passed the House, nonetheless, with a vote of 212-147. With one change to the membership of the 10-person commission, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously recommended HB 171 to the full Senate for passage.

health care in corrections

The commission on mental health courts grew out of an ongoing effort to develop a state mental health plan, which also sought to evaluate mental health in New Hampshire’s corrections system. House Bill 214 would establish a committee to study health care services—including mental health and substance abuse treatment—for inmates in state, county and juvenile detention facilities. The study would cover the provision of services to inmates and treatment providers’ access to incarcerated individuals. 

Originally, HB 214 also addressed interruptions in prescription medications for inmates. According to a newsletter from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, of particular interest to the organization was a requirement that the superintendent of county correctional facilities conduct a medical evaluation of an inmate before modifying or discontinuing his or her medications.

The bill was amended in the House with more generalized language, however, that did not single out prescription medication protocol. The amended bill passed the House with no opposing votes.

Further amendments in the Senate Judiciary Committee slightly change the commission’s makeup, and also change its scope. Instead of a single report due in November 2010, the commission would be ongoing and report annually until 2012. With its own amendments to HB 214, the Senate Judiciary Committee has unanimously recommended its passage.

juvenile court diversion

The committee has also recommended a study on the state’s juvenile court diversion program. Sponsored by Rep. Gilman Shattuck (D-Hillsborough), House Bill 342 would establish a commission to evaluate the current statutes whereby police officers, juvenile probation and parole officers, and prosecutors may direct minors in custody of the law to court-approved diversion programs or other community resources.

The Senate is scheduled to vote on all of these study committees at its meeting on Wednesday, May 27. Any Senate amendments to House bills will have to be approved by the House, or else worked out in committees of conference by June 25.

Front Door Politics is a weekly legislative update for everyone affected by New Hampshire laws. An online learning center, additional reporting, and a blog subscription are available at www.frontdoorpolitics.com.