To amend sections 2945.37, 2945.38, 2945.39, and 2945.401 and to enact section 5120.101 of the Revised Code to enact the Mental Health and Community Wellness Act to amend the competency to stand trial law, to create the mental health and substance abuse community-based correctional facility pilot program, to require a prosecutor to file for civil confinement of a defendant who is found incompetent to stand trial and who is charged with a felony or a misdemeanor offense of violence, and to make an appropriation.
HB622, the Mental Health and Community Wellness Act, would substantially revise Ohio’s laws governing criminal defendants found incompetent to stand trial. The bill keeps the basic competency framework in place, but it adds new requirements for prosecutors in many cases: when a defendant charged with a felony or a misdemeanor offense of violence is found incompetent, the prosecutor must file an affidavit seeking civil commitment in probate court under the state’s mental illness or intellectual disability commitment laws. The bill also expands and reorganizes procedures for treatment, evaluation, outpatient competency restoration, involuntary medication hearings, and court oversight of defendants who remain under commitment.
The bill also creates a new mental health and substance abuse community-based correctional facility pilot program within the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. That program would identify space in community-based correctional facilities for residents needing treatment, provide medications, and hire specialized treatment staff. The bill includes a $26 million appropriation for construction of a new mental health and substance abuse community-based correctional facility in Lucas County, adjacent to existing correctional facilities, and directs the Medicaid Director to seek a federal waiver to support treatment services for participants in the pilot program.
HB622 would amend Revised Code sections 2945.37, 2945.38, 2945.39, and 2945.401 and add section 5120.101, changing how Ohio courts, prosecutors, hospitals, and correctional agencies handle defendants found incompetent to stand trial. It would require more frequent civil-commitment filings in felony and violent misdemeanor cases, authorize continued detention for limited periods pending probate proceedings, expand the use of outpatient competency restoration and community-based treatment settings, and preserve court jurisdiction over committed defendants until final termination of commitment. It would also create a new DRC pilot program and appropriate state funds for a dedicated correctional treatment facility, with potential downstream effects on probate courts, forensic mental health providers, county prosecutors, and community-based correctional facilities.
Because the bill was only introduced and had no recorded votes or committee testimony in the provided materials, there is no formal legislative sentiment reflected in the record. Based on the text, the bill appears to be framed as a public-safety and treatment measure, emphasizing competency restoration, civil commitment, and expanded community-based mental health and substance use services. The overall tone of the proposal is intervention-oriented and supportive of treatment infrastructure, rather than punitive alone.
The main points of potential contention are the bill’s mandatory prosecutor filing requirement for civil commitment in felony and violent misdemeanor cases, the expanded authority for courts to detain defendants pending civil proceedings, and the bill’s broad treatment and placement provisions, including outpatient restoration and involuntary medication procedures. Supporters are likely to view these provisions as necessary to protect public safety and ensure treatment access, while critics may be concerned about due process, prosecutorial discretion, the use of civil commitment in criminal cases, and the costs and scope of the new facility and pilot program. The appropriation for a new facility in Lucas County and the required Medicaid waiver request may also draw fiscal and implementation scrutiny.