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BILL # HB 2673 |
TITLE: mental illness; prisoners; diagnosis; treatment |
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SPONSOR: Hernandez C |
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PREPARED BY: Jordan Johnston |
STATUS: As Introduced |
HB 2673, as introduced, would require, upon arrest or conviction, county prisoners to be examined within 24 hours by a licensed physician if the person manifests symptoms of a mental disorder. Counties would also be required to continue treatment of mental illness if the prisoner is currently receiving medications. The bill also requires the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) to examine a prisoner by a licensed professional within 72 hours of confining if the person displays symptoms of a mental disorder. ADC would be further required to create a treatment plan for inmates with a mental health disorder.
Estimated Impact
We estimate that the bill may result in increased administrative and employee costs to ADC, but we are unable to determine the magnitude of these costs in advance without agency input.
The Arizona Association of Counties (AACO) estimates that the bill will cost each county $897,000 annually to hire 5 FTE positions (2 psychiatric physicians and 3 detention officers) to comply with the requirements of the bill. This results in a total local impact of about $13.5 million. In addition, AACO estimates the bill may result in additional one-time and ongoing costs associated with building out clinical space.
We have asked ADC for their estimated impact of the legislation and are awaiting a response.
Our estimate assumes the following:
1) Counties are currently required under law to examine a person upon their arrest or conviction if they display symptoms of a mental health disorder. AACO estimates the bill will require 5 new FTE positions for each county to perform the mental health examinations within 24 hours of arrest or conviction and other provisions as required under the bill.
2) ADC currently operates a mental health services program within the state prison system. As of December 31, 2025, there are 13,792 inmates receiving ongoing mental health services. We assume that ADC is already performing examinations and providing ongoing treatment plans to inmates with a mental health disorder. The cost of the bill to the department will depend on whether ADC's mental health examinations are performed (or can be done with current staffing) within the bill's required timeframe of 72 hours.
2/26/26