TAMPA – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, (R-FL), signed SB 1620 and SB 168, two bills designed to bolster Florida’s Mental Healthcare capabilities.
Gov. DeSantis said in a statement these pieces of legislation aim to “support Floridians overcoming mental health challenges and substance use disorders” and to turn Florida into the leading nation in “delivering meaningful solutions to tackle these complex issues.”
DeSantis also announced in the same statement that he would rename USF’s Mental Health Institute as the Senator Darryl E. Rouson Center for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Research.
“I was also pleased to announce the naming of the ‘Senator Darryl E. Rouson Center for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Research’ at USF in recognition of his leadership. As the nation’s largest behavioral health services research institute, the Rouson Center will continue its cutting-edge research to help transform the lives of people struggling with addiction and mental health.” he said.
SB 1620 primarily focuses on standardizing clinical mental health assessments used by providers and school mental health programs, enabling treatment decisions to be based on real, measurable needs.
The bill also aims to improve discharge planning from treatment facilities by requiring plans to include access to long-acting injectable medications when clinically appropriate, expanding specialized mobile crisis response services to ensure older Floridians receive care during their most critical moments, and investing in the behavioral health workforce through new training programs, professional stipends, and statewide workforce development projects.
SB 168, also known as the Tristan Murphy Act, aims to create pathways for people with mental illnesses so that they can receive treatment as an alternative to incarceration.
The bill allows counties and municipalities to establish misdemeanor mental health diversion programs and pretrial felony diversion programs, provides authorities with a clear process to route individuals with serious mental illness out of the criminal justice system and into treatment, prioritizes veteran treatment court programs and emergency responder training, and requires mental health evaluations for individuals with a history of incompetency adjudications before placing them on probation and returning them to society—closing a dangerous loophole.
“People need to be held accountable but you also have to provide support in ways that will address the problem,” DeSantis said.
