Provides for payment by the state of certain traveling costs and fees associated with the psychiatric examination of defendants to determine mental fitness.
Summary
S02207 would amend New York’s Criminal Procedure Law section 730.20, which governs compensation for psychiatric examiners who evaluate criminal defendants for mental fitness. The bill keeps the existing fee structure for examiners—travel expenses plus set fees for examinations and court appearances—but changes who pays certain costs. Under current law, those fees and related transportation, detention, hospital, maintenance, and return costs are charged to the county where the defendant is being tried; the bill shifts those expenses to the state when approved by the court.
The measure also updates the statute’s language to use gender-neutral terms such as “they” and “such examiner” in place of older gendered references. It applies immediately to expenses incurred on or after enactment, meaning the funding change would affect future competency evaluations and related defendant transport or hospitalization costs right away.
Impact
The bill would amend Criminal Procedure Law § 730.20 to reallocate financial responsibility for court-approved psychiatric examination expenses from counties to the state. This affects counties, the state treasury, psychiatric examiners, and criminal defendants whose competency evaluations require travel, detention, hospitalization, or return transportation. The substantive rules for when and how examiners are paid remain largely the same, but the fiscal burden for these costs would shift to the state for expenses occurring on or after the effective date.
Sentiment
Based on the bill text and available context, the measure appears administrative and fiscally focused rather than controversial in its policy design. No committee transcript or recorded votes were provided, so there is no documented public debate to indicate strong support or opposition. The bill’s framing suggests a straightforward effort to standardize payment responsibility and relieve counties of costs associated with competency examinations.
Contention
The main point of contention is likely fiscal: the bill transfers costs from counties to the state, which could be viewed as a relief to local governments but an added expense for the state budget. Counties may support the shift because it removes a local mandate, while state fiscal officials or budget-conscious lawmakers could question the increased state liability. A secondary issue is limited to the statutory cleanup of gendered language, which is unlikely to be controversial.
Provides for payment by the state of certain traveling costs and fees associated with the psychiatric examination of defendants to determine mental fitness.
Permitting a municipal judge to initiate a psychiatric or psychological examination to determine competence, setting forth relevant procedures and requiring further consideration of evaluation and treatment during the course of competency proceedings for defendants charged with the most serious offenses.