Amendment #787 to H4000

Addiction/Sobriety Solutions through Increased Substance Treatment (ASSIST)

Representatives Hunt of Sandwich, DiZoglio of Methuen, O'Connell of Taunton, Cutler of Duxbury, Gifford of Wareham, Vieira of Falmouth, Jones of North Reading, Pignatelli of Lenox, Ferguson of Holden, Peterson of Grafton, Cantwell of Marshfield, Sannicandro of Ashland, Howitt of Seekonk, Malia of Boston, Mirra of West Newbury, Calter of Kingston, Madden of Nantucket, Heroux of Attleboro, Beaton of Shrewsbury, Frost of Auburn, Barrows of Mansfield, Ashe of Longmeadow and Peake of Provincetown move to amend the bill in section 2 by inserting after item 0330-3337 the following item:-

"0330-XXXX For the establishment, administration, and research expenditures of the court addiction commission. The commission is established for the purposes of developing eligibility criteria for mandated treatment or monitoring of nonviolent offenders with substance addictions and proposing reforms. The court addiction commission shall consist of the court administrator or designee, who shall serve as the chair; the chief justice of the trial court or designee; the attorney general or designee; the secretary of public safety and security or designee; the commissioner of the department of correction or designee; the chair of the parole board or designee; the commissioner of the department of probation or designee; the chief counsel of the committee for public counsel services or designee; one member of the senate, appointed by the senate president; one member of the senate, appointed by the senate minority leader; one member of the house of representatives, appointed by the speaker of the house; one member of the house of representatives, appointed by the house minority leader; the president of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association or designee; the president of the Massachusetts Bar Association or designee; one substance addiction treatment expert, appointed by the governor; and one mental health treatment expert, appointed by the governor. Such investigation and study shall include, but not be limited to: (a) evaluation of the application and effectiveness of “Standards on Substance Abuse,” approved by the justices of the supreme judicial court on April 28, 1998, and recommendations to improve and ensure the consistent application of the standards in the courts; (b) evaluation and recommendations for improvement of specialty courts that address substance addictions, including current eligibility requirements or practices, availability of such courts, and use of best practices in establishing quality of services; (c) evaluation of the number and type of nonviolent offenses committed by substance addicted defendants adjudicated in the commonwealth; (d) development of a definition of nonviolent substance addicted offender; (e) consideration of removing judiciary discretion relative to sentencing nonviolent substance addicted offenders with no prior felony convictions to a period of incarceration versus sending such offenders to a treatment program; (f) consideration of eliminating or adjusting mandatory minimum sentencing for nonviolent substance addicted offenders; and (g) an estimate of the total annual number of nonviolent substance addicted offenders who would require addiction treatment upon adoption of new or amended laws as proposed by the court addiction commission, to be shared with the addiction services commission. The court addiction commission shall submit its report and findings, along with any draft of legislation, to the house and senate committees on ways and means, the joint committee on the judiciary, and the clerks of the house of representatives and the senate on or before December 31, 2014.....$100,000"

;and further, by inserting after item 4512-0225 the following item:-

"4512-XXXX For the establishment, administration, and research expenditures of the addiction services commission. The commission is established for the purposes of developing plans to expand effective, evidence based addiction treatment programs for nonviolent substance addicted offenders, whether government managed, privately managed, or managed by public/private partnerships. The addiction services commission shall consist of the members of the interagency council on substance abuse and prevention, chaired by the commissioner of the department of public health or designee, and any of the following parties not members of the interagency council on substance abuse and prevention: the director of the bureau of substance abuse services or designee; the commissioner of the department of mental health or designee; the secretary of the department of veterans’ services or designee; the chief justice of the trial court or designee; the court administrator or designee; the secretary of public safety and security or designee; the commissioner of the department of correction or designee; the commissioner of the department of probation or designee; one member of the senate, appointed by the senate president; one member of the senate, appointed by the senate minority leader; one member of the house of representatives, appointed by the speaker of the house; one member of the house of representatives, appointed by the house minority leader; one substance addiction treatment expert, appointed by the governor; and one mental health treatment expert, appointed by the governor. Such investigation and study shall include, but not be limited to: (a) an examination of best practices relative to specialty courts that deal with substance addicted offenders, both within the commonwealth and in other states; (b) an assessment of the quantity, quality and availability of effective, evidence based addiction treatment programs in the commonwealth; (c) the optimum number and estimated expansion costs associated with the drug courts necessary to meet the needs of the total annual number of nonviolent substance addicted offenders as estimated by the court addiction commission; (d) an assessment of the cost of expanding addiction treatment resources to meet the needs of the total annual number of nonviolent substance addicted offenders; and (e) the probable savings of diverting nonviolent substance addicted offenders to treatment versus incarceration in terms of reduced government expenditures and estimated reduction in inmate population at the commonwealth’s correctional facilities.The Commission shall submit its report and findings, along with any draft of legislation, to the house and senate committees on ways and means, the joint committee on public health, the joint committee on veterans and federal affairs, the joint committee on mental health and substance abuse, and the clerks of the house of representatives and the senate on or before December 31, 2014.....$100,000".