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NYS Conference of Local Mental Hygiene Directors Issues Statement

ALBANY, NY—The New York State Conference of Local Mental Hygiene Directors ("The Conference") today issued the following statement regarding A.5567-B/S.1004-B:

Recent misrepresentations regarding State legislation, A.5567-B/S.1004-B, risk creating unnecessary alarm about efforts intended to address longstanding deficiencies in New York State’s competency restoration system.

Competency restoration has a specific legal purpose: helping an individual attain the capacity necessary to understand the proceedings against them and participate in their defense. It should not become an indefinite substitute for appropriate treatment or essential services often needed by justice-involved individuals with serious mental illness or intellectual and developmental disabilities. When there is no reasonable likelihood that an individual can be restored, continuing a restoration order for years does not make communities safer, nor does it ensure that the individual is receiving the services best suited to their needs.

The current statute dates back over five decades and parts of it have been declared unconstitutional. This legislation creates greater accountability and judicial review around these decisions. It also provides pathways for individuals who require continued hospitalization and treatment to receive care through the appropriate civil or community-based systems. Approving these reforms does not mean abandoning public safety. It means making better distinctions between competency restoration, treatment, and the level of care an individual actually requires.

As the Local Governmental Units (LGUs) responsible for overseeing county mental hygiene systems and coordinating extensively with courts, jails, hospitals, law enforcement, and providers, our members have seen firsthand the consequences of a competency framework that has remained largely unchanged for decades, even as New York has moved to a unified court system and fundamentally transformed its system of institutional care.

Public safety, due process, and access to appropriate treatment are not mutually exclusive. What the public deserves is a productive discussion about what this legislation actually does, not rhetoric suggesting that individuals will simply be released onto the streets without consideration of their treatment needs or public safety.

A.5567-B/S.1004-B represents an important and long-overdue step toward modernizing New York’s competency restoration system while preserving appropriate safeguards for individuals and communities.

Contact: Francine Sinkoff, Director of Communications
NYS Conference of Local Mental Hygiene Directors
(518) 462-9422 | fs@clmhd.org