TAMPA, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke in Tampa on Wednesday before signing two bills into law which cover mental health topics.
DeSantis signed SB 1620, “Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders," and SB 168, “Mental Health,” at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.
Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders;
Requiring the Department of Children and Families to require certain providers to use a specified assessment tool; requiring facilities to update treatment plans within specified timeframes; requiring use of a specified assessment tool; providing an exception; requiring the Criminal Justice, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse Technical Assistance Center at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at the University of South Florida to disseminate among grantees certain evidence-based practices and best practices, etc.
CS/CS/SB 1620: Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders
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Mental Health; Citing this act as the “Tristin Murphy Act”; expanding the programs and diversion initiatives supported by implementation or expansion grants to include training for 911 public safety telecommunicators and emergency medical technicians for certain purposes and to include veterans treatment court programs; encouraging communities to apply for specified grants to establish misdemeanor or ordinance violation mental health diversion programs; encouraging communities to apply for specified grants to establish pretrial felony mental health diversion programs; expanding eligibility for the Forensic Hospital Diversion Pilot Program to include Hillsborough County, etc. APPROPRIATION: $794,880
CS/CS/SB 168: Mental Health
SB 1620 goes into effect July 1 while SB 168 will go into effect on Oct. 1.
Watch the news conference again in the video player below or by clicking here.