CS/CS/CS/HB 439 - Summary

• Creates treatment-based mental health court programs with voluntary pretrial participation and court-ordered postadjudicatory participation for defendants assessed with mental illness in the justice system.

• Establishes the Forensic Hospital Diversion Pilot Program in Duval, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties to serve offenders with mental illness or co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders as alternatives to state forensic facilities.

• Expands eligibility for military veterans and servicemembers court programs to include those with general discharges and allows participation in treatment programs while on probation or community control.

• Authorizes courts to order offenders on probation or community control to complete postadjudicatory mental health court programs and creates delinquency pretrial mental health court intervention programs for certain juvenile offenders.

• Defines "mental health probation" as specialized supervision emphasizing mental health treatment and medication compliance with restricted caseloads, and expands pretrial intervention program eligibility for misdemeanor defendants with mental illness.