HB191 Summary

• Amends Section 15-16-43 of the Code of Alabama 1975 to authorize courts to order placement of mentally ill defendants in the Alabama Security Medical Facility when the defendant poses a real and present threat of substantial harm to themselves or others.

• Prohibits the Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Mental Health from transferring a defendant placed in the Alabama Security Medical Facility to another facility without obtaining leave from the court that ordered the original placement.

• Applies only to defendants who have been found mentally ill at a final hearing and determined to pose a substantial harm threat, regardless of whether the receiving facility is under the commissioner's control.

• Becomes effective on the first day of the third month following passage and approval by the Governor, or when otherwise becoming law.