HomeMy WebLinkAbout050125 email - I would appreciate hearing about these results of the legislative sessionALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them.
Any chance of a presentation to the board some time about the law enacted and the one not passed and how they affect our law and justice services? And the current situation on public
defender caseloads and funding?
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/mental-health/here-are-the-mental-health-related-bills-that-passed-this-legislative-session/?utm_source=marketingcloud&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=TSA_0501
25170513+What+WA+Legislature+did+to+address+mental+health_5_1_2025&utm_term=Active%20subscriber
In case you hit the paywall, here are excerpts from the article:
Expanding public defense options for patients
Late last year, a newly opened University of Washington behavioral health hospital that was meant to serve the state’s civil commitment population — people who aren’t charged with crimes
but have severe mental illness — stopped taking patients. It cited a lack of public defenders to represent these patients in their court cases, stemming from a dispute with the King
County Department of Public Defense, which said it was too overwhelmed to keep taking new cases.
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Senate Bill 5745 allows <https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/mental-health/new-plans-will-provide-lawyers-for-uw-mental-health-patients/> county public defense departments to
contract with outside entities to represent patients. Counties could contract with the state’s office of public defense or seek help from private, third-party law firms.
A few other mental health-related bills did not make it to the end of the session. One would have limited the number of patients each county can send to the state psychiatric hospital
for competency restoration — or treatment that enables them to attend court hearings.