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Amend the resolve by striking out the title and substituting the following:
‘Resolve, To Establish the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Law Enforcement, the Courts, the Correctional System and Persons with Mental Illness’
Amend the resolve by striking out everything after the title and before the summary and inserting the following:
‘Sec. 1 Blue Ribbon Task Force on Law Enforcement, the Courts, the Correctional System and Persons with Mental Illness. Resolved: That the Department of Corrections, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Public Safety and the Judicial Department shall work together to convene the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Law Enforcement, the Courts, the Correctional System and Persons with Mental Illness.
1. The blue ribbon task force consists of representatives of all of the convening agencies and representatives of the Office of the Attorney General, persons with mental illness and providers of services to persons with mental illness and members of the general public.
2. The blue ribbon task force shall review information from this State and other states with demographics similar to this State regarding the issues listed in this subsection. The information must include the costs, outcomes and effectiveness regarding the following issues:
A. Services to persons with mental illness, including but not limited to crisis services and community-based and facility-based mental health and substance abuse services, and the costs and delivery systems for those services;
B. Training for providers of mental health services regarding and procedures for coordination with law enforcement, the courts and the correctional system;
C. Training for law enforcement, the courts and correctional personnel regarding mental illness, working with persons with mental illness, working with persons with mental illness who also require substance abuse services, working with providers of services to persons with mental illness including providers of crisis services and substance abuse services and coordination with providers of services to persons with mental illness;
D. Any available information from the Mental Health Homicide, Suicide and Aggravated Assault Review Board established pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 34-B, section 1931; and
E. Best practices for interactions between persons with mental illness, law enforcement, the courts, the corrections system and providers of services to persons with mental illness.
3. The Department of Health and Human Services shall coordinate with the Department of Corrections, the Department of Public Safety and the Judicial Department to submit a report to the Joint Standing Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety and the Joint Standing Committee on Health And Human Services by January 15, 2010. The report must include the findings and recommendations of the blue ribbon task force regarding each of the areas of concern listed in subsection 2 and recommendations for the blue ribbon task force regarding those findings.’
 
SUMMARY
This amendment is the minority report and it replaces the resolve and renames it. The amendment directs the Department of Corrections, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Public Safety and the Judicial Department to work together to convene the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Law Enforcement, the Courts, the Correctional System and Persons with Mental Illness. The blue ribbon task force must review information from this State and other states regarding the costs, outcomes and effectiveness of the following issues: services to persons with mental illness, including but not limited to crisis services and community-based and facility-based mental health and substance abuse services, and the costs and delivery systems for those services; training for providers of mental health services regarding and procedures for coordination with law enforcement, the courts and the correctional system; training for law enforcement, the courts and correctional personnel regarding mental illness, working with persons with mental illness, working with persons with mental illness who also require substance abuse services, working with providers of services to persons with mental illness including providers of crisis services and substance abuse services and coordination with providers of services to persons with mental illness; any available information from the Mental Health Homicide, Suicide and Aggravated Assault Review Board established pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 34-B, section 1931; and best practices for interactions between persons with mental illness, law enforcement, the courts, the corrections system and providers of services to persons with mental illness.
The amendment also requires a report from the agencies on the work of the blue ribbon task force by January 15, 2010 to the Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services and the Joint Standing Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety.