Lawmakers wrestled Thursday with how best to help traumatic brain injury victims who are deemed incompetent to stand trial but remain a threat to public safety.
The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday continued discussion, but did not vote, on a bill designed to plug a loophole in the judicial system surrounding TBI victims.
Under current law people with mental illness or intellectual disabilities who are deemed incompetent to stand trial and are deemed a public safety risk can be committed to mental health services via government agencies.
TBI is not a mental illness, however, and the committee heard testimony from victims who said their alleged perpetrators, who had TBI, were allowed to walk free.
Bill H.555, sponsored by Rep. Warren Van Wyck, R-Ferrisburgh, is designed to plug that loophole by assuring that TBI victims will also be referred to services.
Chairman Bill Lippert, D-Hinesburg, said there is a “significant gap both in the legal process and in the ability to protect the community and in subsequent services that might be provided to both protect the community and give the person rehabilitation.”
The committee over the past two months has grappled with technical aspects of the bill, such as which agency to tap to treat TBI patients who are found incompetent to stand trial and are deemed a public safety threat.
Lawmakers have decided the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living (DAIL) should be charged with overseeing those patients. State officials have said they do not know exactly how many people fall into that category.
The committee is deciding whether it wants to pass a bill or ask DAIL to study what it would take to treat TBI patients and report back perhaps next session. Funding is also a concern.
DAIL Deputy Commissioner Stuart Schurr estimated the development of a program for TBI patients could take 18 months to two years.
“I realize at the same time that that seems like a long time to ask people to wait when there’s a concern about public safety,” Shurr said.
The department assesses people and places them with appropriate third-party service providers, he explained. DAIL already has a TBI program, but it is not for people who put public safety at risk, Shurr said.
Meanwhile, DAIL has 34 people under its custody who are deemed public safety risks. Each person costs the government about $100,000 per year, Shurr said.
Lippert said the bill does not add new resources to DAIL for treating TBI patients, and he and Shurr agreed it would likely force other TBI patients, who are not public safety risks, out of treatment.
Shurr also made it clear that when courts commit patients to DAIL it is not a lifetime sentence. A case should be reviewed by a judge annually and a person discharged if he or she is no longer a public safety risk, he said.
Lawmakers on Thursday pointed out that DAIL would be putting TBI patients into a system crafted for patients with developmental disabilities.
They asked if any of the agencies that DAIL sends patients to are equipped to help TBI victims.
“Well that’s the question I suppose,” Shurr said.
The committee must vote on this and any other bills it wants to advance this session by March 14. Lippert said the committee will work more on the bill after the Town Meeting Day break next week.
