JCMH Legislative Progress

In September 2022, the JCMH submitted a slate of civil, criminal, and juvenile legislative proposals related to mental health law to the Texas Judicial Council. The Texas Judicial Council, as the policymaking body for the state judiciary, receives and considers input from judges and other stakeholders and submits recommendations for system improvement to the Legislature, Governor, and the Supreme Court.

The proposals that were ultimately enacted into law were authored by Senator Judith Zaffirini, S.B. 2479, and by Senators Kevin Sparks and Charles Perry in S.B. 1585. Judge Brent Carr broke down Senate Bill 2479 in his July JIR letter, and Senate Bill 1585 is highlighted below. 

Senate Bill 1585 Highlights

• S.B. 1585 is a package that rewrote, reorganized, and updated Chapter 55 of the Texas Family Code, which governs proceedings in juvenile court for children with mental illness and intellectual disabilities.

• The bill substituted “intellectual disability” for the harmful and outdated term “mental retardation” throughout Chapter 55.

• Subchapter A of Chapter 55 was updated to provide definitions for the terms used in Chapter 55, including “forensic mental evaluation” and the criteria for the experts who conduct these evaluations. It also incorporated the criteria for court-ordered treatment services from the Texas Health and Safety Code directly into the Family Code.

• Subchapter B was amended to address court-ordered inpatient and outpatient treatment services for juveniles with mental illness, in addition to strengthening the value of court-ordered forensic mental evaluations and expanding judges’ discretion in transferring juvenile cases to adult criminal court.

• Subchapter C was updated to include what an expert evaluator must consider when determining whether a juvenile with mental illness or an intellectual disability is fit to proceed, clarifies the criteria for court-ordered inpatient and outpatient fitness restoration services, expands judges’ discretion in transferring juvenile cases to adult criminal court, allows judges to order services for youth who are unfit to proceed but do not meet the criteria for court-ordered services, and authorizes juvenile probation departments to provide restoration classes.

• Subchapter D was amended to include what an expert evaluator must consider when determining whether a juvenile with mental illness or an intellectual disability lacked responsibility for their conduct at the time of the offense, clarifies the criteria for court-ordered inpatient and outpatient treatment services, expands judges’ discretion in transferring juvenile cases to adult criminal court, and allows judges to order services for youth who are found to lack responsibility but do not meet the criteria for court-ordered services.



• Subchapter E was created to combine existing language about court-ordered mental health or residential intellectual disability services from Chapter 55 and the Texas Health and Safety Code, as well as addressing the detention status of youth who are being held in juvenile detention facilities while waiting for transport to an appropriate facility or service provider.

6th Annual Judicial Summit on Mental Health

Fewer than 50 in-person seats are available for the 6th Annual Judicial Summit on Mental Health, which will be held October 18-20 at the Moody Gardens in Galveston. Registration is free although the deadline for in-person registration is September 8. You no longer need to secure your livestream registration with a credit card.

This year’s Summit features mental health law legislative updates, a grant-writing workshop, and breakout sessions with subject matter experts. In-person attendees will also be the first to receive new editions of both of the JCMH Bench Books. Still undecided? Hear why some of our 2022 speakers love attending the Summit.