Behavioral Health Support For Criminal Justice Advocates
The bill creates the public defender and prosecutor behavioral health support grant program (grant program) (program) in the department of local affairs (department). The department administers the program. The office of the state public defender and district attorney offices are eligible for a grant. The department allocates fifty percent of program money to the office of the state public defender and the remaining fifty percent to the Colorado district attorneys' council (CDAC). CDAC administers a grant program to award grants to individual district attorney's offices. A grant recipient and the office of the state public defender may use grant program money for counseling services, including reimbursements for the costs of counseling services; training and education programs that teach the symptoms of job-related trauma; how to prevent and treat trauma; and peer support programs. The department is office of the state public defender and CDAC are annually required to report to the general assembly House and Senate judiciary committees about the grant program.
The bill prohibits a district attorney or public defender peer support team member from being examined as a witness in court about any communication between the peer support team member and a person receiving peer support services without the consent of the person who received the peer support services.
(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)
(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)