OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Suzanne Schreiber, D-Tulsa, passed HB 4200 out of the Committee on Health and Human Services Oversight. The measure seeks to close a public safety gap by standing up Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) teams across the state to address the revolving door between homeless individuals with severe mental illness and the criminal justice system.
The bill directs the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services to develop a public-private partnership called the “Forensic Assertive Community Treatment Program.” The program’s purpose is to develop forensic assertive community treatment teams across the state.
“With this bill we are addressing an issue I hear about frequently from my constituents: how do we address individuals who are severely mentally ill and living on the streets to keep them and the public safe?” said Schreiber. “This one-time investment by the state will help us stand up relationships with the courts and jails systems needed to ensure we address those coming out of jail before they return to the street by ensuring these individuals are connected to the right treatments to stop the revolving door. For every dollar we invest in FACT teams taxpayers see $1.50 in savings. This is the kind of thing we should invest in because everybody ends up safer.”
Healthy Minds Policy Initiative, an Oklahoma nonprofit working to improve mental health across the state, helped with this legislation.
“Across the state, communities struggle to support individuals with complex needs and serious mental illness. Too often, these individuals wind up in jail, hospital emergency rooms or in extended homelessness,” said Zack Stoycoff, president & CEO of Healthy Minds Policy Initiative. “Assertive Community Treatment is an evidence-based model with decades of research showing it works, and it’s cheaper than the costly alternatives we’re already paying for as a society.”
Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) is a mobile, team-based treatment model that instills stability and self-sufficiency for individuals with serious mental illness. ACT teams provide full-time medical and mental health care, as well as housing and employment assistance. Forensic Assertive Community Treatment is a variation on this model focusing on individuals with a history of criminal justice involvement, promoting public safety as well as improved individual outcomes.
The new program would address the creation of a Tulsa County, Oklahoma County, and a rural forensic assertive community treatment team with additional teams determined by community need and funding; identification of the population most in need of intense community-based psychiatric services; development or adoption of a tool to measure the fidelity of the forensic assertive community treatment teams; and the development of partnerships within local communities to assist in the provision of the program.
The bill creates a revolving fund that would house one-time, startup funding if appropriated by the Legislature. A 25% private match in year one and additional private funds in year two would be needed to launch the teams.
The bill’s Senate author is Sen. Dave Rader, R-Tulsa.
HB 4200 now moves to the House Floor for consideration.
