OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
S.B. 2 Final Analysis
134th General Assembly
Click here for S.B. 2’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Passed by the General Assembly
Primary Sponsor: Sen. Gavarone
Effective date: August 3, 2021
Effective Date:
Nicholas A. Keller, Attorney
SUMMARY
Procedure for court-ordered competency examinations
 Prohibits a court from ordering a criminal defendant to undergo inpatient competency
evaluations at certain facilities operated or certified by the state, unless the defendant is
charged with a felony or offense of violence, immediate hospitalization is deemed
necessary, or the order is based on a request from the examiner under continuing law.
 Allows evaluation of the defendant’s mental condition at the time of the offense to be
conducted through electronic means.
 Requires the examiner’s written report to be filed with the court under seal and allows
inspection of the report by the defendant, the defendant’s guardian, probate courts,
ADAMHS boards, and mental health professionals involved in the treatment of the
defendant.
 Allows others to inspect the report under certain circumstances and provides a
mechanism for determining whether disclosure should be allowed.
 Provides that intellectual disability reports must be filed under seal in the same manner
as competency evaluations.
 Requires the examiner to consider housing needs and availability of mental health
treatment in the community when giving a recommendation as to the least restrictive
placement or commitment alternative for the defendant due to the defendant’s
condition.
July 7, 2021
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
Issue of competence to stand trial raised – finding of
incompetence to stand trial
 Modifies and expands the provisions governing a court’s issuance of a treatment order
for a defendant found incompetent to stand trial (IST).
 Requires the court, when determining the place of commitment for a defendant found
IST, to consider the availability of housing and supportive services, including outpatient
mental health services.
 Requires a criminal court to send to the probate court copies of all previously prepared
written reports regarding a defendant’s mental condition for a defendant who cannot
be restored to competency and for whom an Affidavit of Mental Illness has been filed.
Misdemeanor defendants undergoing competency restoration
 Enacts a procedure that a hospital chief clinical officer must follow before discharging a
mental health patient found IST for one or more specified misdemeanor offenses and
who consequently becomes the subject of an Affidavit of Mental Illness initiated by a
criminal court or prosecutor.
 Prohibits a described patient from being discharged from hospitalization before the
hospital’s chief clinical officer has notified the trial court or prosecutor of the intent to
discharge.
 Requires that the Affidavit of Mental Illness, used to initiate involuntary mental health
treatment using the process of judicial hospitalization, include a space for the affiant to
indicate that the person for whom involuntary mental health treatment is sought is a
described patient.
Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact (PSYPACT) – Ohio entry
 Enters Ohio in the multi-jurisdictional psychology compact known as PSYPACT.
 Regulates the practice of telepsychology and temporary in-person psychology across
state boundaries for participating states.
 Establishes the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact Commission.
 Creates the Coordinated Licensure Information System.
 Outlines the procedure for implementing and withdrawing from PSYPACT.
Substance abuse civil commitment
 Eliminates a provision that authorized a court to order the hospitalization on an
immediate, emergency basis of a respondent found to present an imminent danger or
imminent threat of danger to self, family, or others as a result of alcohol or other drug
abuse.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Procedure for court-ordered competency examinations............................................................... 4
Examination, report, and disclosure ........................................................................................... 4
Content of report ........................................................................................................................ 5
Intellectual disability report ........................................................................................................ 6
Issue of competence to stand trial raised – finding of IST.............................................................. 6
Order of treatment ...................................................................................................................... 6
Place of commitment .................................................................................................................. 8
Subsequent hearing and actions ................................................................................................. 9
Misdemeanor defendants undergoing competency restoration ................................................... 9
Background.................................................................................................................................. 9
Procedures for hospitals and courts ......................................................................................... 10
When defendant refuses to accept treatment plan ............................................................ 10
When defendant requests release from voluntary status ................................................... 11
Continuing law ...................................................................................................................... 11
Operation of the act ............................................................................................................. 11
Affidavit of Mental Illness ......................................................................................................... 11
Termination of probate court jurisdiction ................................................................................ 12
Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact (PSYPACT) – Ohio entry................................................. 12
PSYPACT purpose and history ................................................................................................... 12
PSYPACT and Ohio ..................................................................................................................... 12
Commission ............................................................................................................................... 12
Rulemaking ........................................................................................................................... 13
Oversight, dispute resolution, and enforcement ...................................................................... 13
Home state licensure................................................................................................................. 13
Requirements to practice telepsychology and temporary face-to-face psychology ................ 14
Educational requirements .................................................................................................... 14
Other requirements .............................................................................................................. 14
Scope of practice ....................................................................................................................... 15
Disciplinary actions .................................................................................................................... 15
Coordinated licensure information system............................................................................... 15
Implementation and withdrawal .............................................................................................. 16
Substance abuse civil commitment – emergency hospitalization................................................ 16
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DETAILED ANALYSIS
Procedure for court-ordered competency examinations
Examination, report, and disclosure
Under preexisting law, if the issue of a criminal defendant’s competence to stand trial is
raised or a defendant enters a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI), a court may order
one or more evaluations of the defendant’s present mental condition or, in the case of a plea of
not guilty by reason of insanity, of the defendant’s mental condition at the time of the offense
charged. If a court orders an evaluation, the defendant must be available at the times and
places established by the examiners who are to conduct the evaluation. The act allows the
examiners to conduct the evaluation through electronic means.1
The act also prohibits a court, subject to the exceptions described in the next paragraph,
from ordering a defendant to undergo inpatient competency evaluations at a center, program,
or facility operated by the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) or the
Department of Developmental Disabilities (DODD), unless the defendant is charged with a
felony or an offense of violence or the court determines, based on facts before it, that the
defendant is in need of immediate hospitalization. Continuing law, unchanged by the act,
requires an evaluation ordered by a municipal court to be conducted through community
resources, such as a certified forensic center, court probation department, or community
mental health services provider. A defendant who has not been released on bail or
recognizance may be evaluated at the place of detention.2
The prohibition does not apply with respect to two provisions of law that are unchanged
by the act. The first provision allows the court, upon the examiner’s request, to order the
sheriff to transport a defendant who has not been released on bail to a program or facility
operated or certified by DMHAS or DODD, where the defendant may be held for evaluation for
a reasonable period not to exceed 20 days, and to return the defendant to the place of
detention after the evaluation. Also under this provision, a municipal court may order the
inpatient evaluation only upon the request of a certified forensic center examiner. The second
provision specifies that a defendant who has not been released on bail or recognizance may be
evaluated at the defendant’s place of detention.3
Under a different provision, if a defendant who has been released on bail or
recognizance refuses to submit to a competency examination, the court may order the sheriff
to take the defendant into custody and deliver the defendant to a center, program, or facility
operated or certified by DMHAS or DODD, where the defendant may be held for inpatient
1 R.C. 2945.371(A) and (C)(1).
2 R.C. 2945.37(H) and 2945.371(E).
3 R.C. 2945.371(D).
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evaluation for a reasonable period not exceeding 20 days. The act specifies that this provision is
subject to the prohibition described in the second preceding paragraph.4
Continuing law requires the examiner, in conducting an evaluation of the defendant’s
mental condition at the time of the offense charged, to consider all relevant evidence. The act
allows this examination to be conducted through electronic means.5 Continuing law also
requires the examiner to file a written report with the court within 30 days after entry of a
court order for evaluation, and requires the court to provide copies of the report to the
prosecutor and defense counsel. The act requires that the written report be filed with the court
under seal, and requires the court to allow for inspection of the report by the defendant, the
defendant’s guardian, a probate court, a board of alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health
services (an ADAMHS board), and any mental health professional involved in the treatment of
the defendant, but the report must not be open to public inspection.6
The act allows a person who is not otherwise permitted to inspect the report to file a
motion with the court seeking disclosure for good cause. When a motion for disclosure is filed,
the court must notify the defendant of the pending motion and allow sufficient time for the
defendant to object to the disclosure. If the defendant objects to the disclosure, the court must
schedule a hearing to determine whether the party seeking access has demonstrated that
access is necessary for treatment of the defendant or for a criminal adjudication of the
defendant for which the report was originally created. At that time the defendant must be
allowed an opportunity to provide the court with grounds for the objection. The court may not
provide access to the report unless the party seeking access can demonstrate that the access is
necessary for treatment of the defendant or for a criminal adjudication of the defendant for
which the report was originally created.
The act also permits a defendant who is the subject of an examiner’s report prior to the
act’s effective date (August 3, 2021) to file a motion with the court to have that report placed
under seal. Once the motion is filed, the court must place the report under seal, subject to the
same access and disclosure provisions explained above for reports filed after the effective
date.7
Content of report
Continuing law requires the report to include, in part, the examiner’s findings, the facts
in reasonable detail on which the findings are based, and certain other findings and
recommendations, which vary depending on whether the purpose of the evaluation was to
determine the defendant’s competence to stand trial or to determine the defendant’s mental
condition at the time of the offense charged. If, in evaluating the defendant’s competence to
4 R.C. 2945.371(C)(2).
5 R.C. 2945.371(G).
6 R.C. 2945.371(H).
7 R.C. 2945.371(H).
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stand trial, the examiner’s opinion is that the defendant is incapable of understanding the
nature and objective of the proceedings against the defendant or of assisting in the defendant’s
defense and that the defendant presently is mentally ill or has an intellectual disability, the
examiner must include a recommendation as to the least restrictive placement or commitment
alternative, consistent with the defendant’s treatment needs for restoration to competency
and with the safety of the community.8 The act further requires that the examiner’s
recommendation as to the least restrictive placement or commitment alternative also consider
the housing needs and the availability of mental health treatment in the community. 9
Intellectual disability report
Continuing law requires the court to order the defendant to undergo a separate
intellectual disability evaluation conducted by a psychologist designated by DODD’s Director if
the examiner’s report described above indicates that in the examiner’s opinion the defendant is
incapable of understanding the nature and objective of the proceedings against the defendant
or of assisting in the defendant’s defense and that in the examiner’s opinion the defendant
appears to be a person with an intellectual disability subject to institutionalization by court
order. The provisions of continuing law and the act described above with respect to the
examiner’s report apply in relation to the separate intellectual disability evaluation. The
psychologist who conducts the separate intellectual disability evaluation must file a written
report with the court within 30 days after the entry of the court order requiring the separate
intellectual disability evaluation, and the court must provide copies to the prosecutor and
defense counsel. The act also requires the court to file the report under seal in the same
manner as the act requires a report submitted by an examiner to be filed