A04347 - Medical Parole Bill Summary

• Changes the standard for medical parole certification from "incapable of presenting any danger to society" to "severely restricted in ability to self-ambulate or perform significant normal activities of daily living" for both terminal and non-terminal conditions.

• Requires the Board of Parole to independently determine whether released individuals present a danger to society and make a decision within 30 days of receiving the Commissioner's certification.

• Establishes medical parole periods of six months with requirements for periodic medical examinations and physician reports to determine if conditions for continued release still exist.

• Allows medical parolees to be released to family residences or other appropriate placements (not just hospitals or hospices) and empowers facility health services directors to act as guardians when cognitively incapable individuals have no other guardian available.

• Prohibits individuals convicted of first-degree murder from medical parole eligibility, while requiring certain violent offenders to have served at least half their sentence before eligibility, with time served not credited prior to the current sentence.