Behavioral Health Legislative Wins in 2026

The Florida Mental Health Advocacy Coalition is pleased that the “Veterans Affairs” bill (HB

199/SB 50) we supported passed and was signed into law! We applaud the efforts of the bill

sponsors Representative Patt Maney and the House Judiciary and Criminal Justice

Subcommittees and Senator Gaetz and the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, and the

Legislature. We thank the Governor for signing the bill, which authorizes sentencing courts to

divert to Veterans’ Treatment Courts.

Like mental health and drug courts, veteran’s treatment courts (VTC) are problem-solving

courts designed to address the root causes of a person’s involvement with the justice system.

Section 394.47891(8), F.S., outlines the eligibility requirements for VTC programs. A defendant

who is a servicemember or veteran charged with a specified non-violent felony may participate

in such a program if he or she is approved by the state attorney, in consultation with the court,

and meets the following criteria: 

• The defendant has a service-related mental health condition, service-related traumatic brain injury, service-related substance use disorder, or service-related psychological problem or has experienced military sexual trauma.
• The defendant is fully advised of the purpose of the VTC program and agrees to enter the program voluntarily.
• The defendant's participation in the VTC program is in the interest of justice and of benefit to the defendant and the community.

The bill repeals the existing requirement for a defendant to apply to and be approved by the

state attorney in order to be eligible for admission into a veteran’s treatment court (VTC)

program, and instead authorizes the court, in consultation with a multidisciplinary team, to

make such a determination if requirements are met; grants jurisdiction to the post-adjudicatory

VTC to adjudicate any violation of probation or community control committed by such a

defendant. Satisfactory completion of the program must be a condition of the defendant's

probation or community control. The bill may reduce the number of defendants who are

incarcerated pretrial or sentenced to jail.

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FLMHAC is pleased that the Legislature approved an additional $5 million recurring dollars for

the 988 Florida Lifeline. Florida’s 13 accredited call centers provide a universal entry point to

care for mental health, substance use, or suicide-related calls. We applaud this step toward

creating sustainable funding for the state’s 988 Lifeline system as calls increase and texting and

chatting is implemented in our third most populous state.

Sometimes, a “win” means effectively opposing a bill that would do harm to the vulnerable

populations for whom we advocate. We worked to oppose a bill that would have stigmatized

the use of properly prescribed psychiatric medications as well as a bill that would have

disallowed the consideration of a behavioral health condition by a judge when sentencing a

defendant. FLMHAC applauds the use of problem-solving courts and treatment diversion

programs to address the root causes of a person’s involvement in the criminal justice system.

The Florida Mental Health Advocacy Coalition is pleased to report that these behavioral health

bills we supported passed and were signed into law! We applaud the efforts of the bill sponsors

and Legislature and thank the Governor. 

FLMHAC is enormously heartened by the passage of the Tristin Murphy Act, which adds diversion

opportunities for non-violent inmates with mental illness, so that they can get treatment to support their paths to recovery. 

FLMHAC continues to be a champion for Florida’s 988 Lifeline, providing 24/7 help, an appropriate level of response, and quick access to our state’s behavioral health system. HB 1091 adds 988 to the essential elements of a coordinated system of care under the Department of Children and Families. Additionally, we are pleased that Florida has added $1.69 million in recurring funds to support the 13 Florida Lifeline call centers.

Mental Health, aka the Tristin Murphy Act - CS/CS/SB 168 sponsored by Sen. Jennifer Bradley and Appropriations and Criminal Justice, was signed by the Governor on June 25, 2025, and goes into effect on October 1, 2025. Reps. Nan Cobb and Dan Daley sponsored the House bill, HB 1207.

Some have referred to this bill as the most important piece of legislation passed in decades to help people with mental illnesses caught up in the criminal justice system. Watch the CBS4 report on the bill's signing into law, featuring the bill's sponsor and an interview with Jim DeFede, who brought attention to Tristan Murphy's case with his documentary Warehoused: The Life and Death of Tristin Murphy.

FLMHAC is very thankful for this bill that offers diversion options to qualifying inmates with mental illness. We especially thank Cindee Murphy, Tristin's mom, who advocated tirelessly for this lifesaving legislation.

Highlights include:

• The Criminal Justice, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse (CJMHSA) Reinvestment Grant Program is available to establish a pretrial felony, misdemeanor, or ordinance violation mental health diversion program to divert defendants from jail to treatment. $6 million for CJMHSA Reinvestment Grants expansion was appropriated for FY25-26. 

• Adds that 3-year implementation or expansion grants may be used for specialized training for 911 operators and emergency medical technicians to determine which response team (law enforcement, emergency medical, crisis intervention team, or mobile response) is most appropriate and for veterans' treatment court programs.

• Adds that 1-year planning or 3-year implementation or expansion grants do not require county matching funds for fiscally constrained counties awarded reinvestment grants.

Establishes legislative intent that:

• Individuals who are charged with certain felonies and all misdemeanors or ordinance violations who have a mental illness, intellectual disability, or autism should be evaluated and provided services in a community setting whenever there is a feasible alternative to incarceration.

• Law enforcement officers receive crisis intervention training.

• It creates a series of steps that a defendant must complete to determine eligibility for continued participation in mental health diversion programs if accused of an ordinance violation, misdemeanor, or certain felonies. Upon successful completion, the state attorney may consider dismissing the charges.

• The Department of Corrections requires the evaluation of each inmate's physical and mental health to determine eligibility for a work assignment or correctional work program and document approval of eligibility before the inmate receives orders for an assignment or program. The Department of Corrections may use discretion in determining whether an inmate is appropriate for an assignment.

• This statute requires that a defendant who was adjudicated incompetent to proceed, whose competency was restored, and who is placed on probation must have a mental health evaluation as a condition of that probation and must follow all recommendations of the review.

• Requires the Northwest Regional Data Center in Florida to implement the Behavioral Health Care Data Repository to collect and analyze data and to prepare reports regarding behavioral health in the state to the Governor, Senate President, and House Speaker. This provision does include an ongoing appropriation for implementation and requires that a proposed budget for the project be submitted to the Governor, Senate President, and House Speaker.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Care - CS/CS/HB 1091, sponsored by Rep. Karen Gonzalez Pittman and the Health & Human Services Committee and Human Services Subcommittee.

Sen. Alexis Calatayud sponsored the companion Senate bill, CS/CS/CS/SB 1240, with Rules, Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services, and Children, Families, and Elder Affairs. The Governor signed the bill on June 13, 2025, and it went into effect on July 1, 2025.

Highlights include:

• Adds 988 call centers as one of the crisis services included in the essential elements of a coordinated system of care.

• Allows courts to order an individual to involuntary outpatient treatment.

• The public defender will represent an individual in a hearing for continuation of involuntary services unless the person has other counsel or is ineligible.
  
• This bill gives the Department of Children and Families (DCF) oversight of and the ability to adopt rules for 988 call centers.
  
• Requires 988 call centers to initiate a statewide plan for interoperability between 988 and 911 so that they work together to provide the most appropriate response.

• Removes the requirement for DCF to determine the need for Medication Assisted Treatment providers, enabling expansion in the state.

• Requires those performing forensic evaluations (determining whether a person is competent in a court proceeding) to receive training developed by DCF regarding restoring competency, evidence-based practices, least restrictive treatment alternatives, and placement options. Forensic evaluators are required to receive initial and annual training. Evaluators are required to use information on less restrictive treatment alternatives.

Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders - CS/CS/SB 1620 sponsored by Sen. Darryl Rouson and Fiscal Policy; and Children, Families, and Elder Affairs, was signed by the Governor on June 25, 2025, and went into effect on July 1, 2025. Rep. Christine Hunschofsky sponsored the companion House bill, CS/HB 1439, with the Human Services Subcommittee.

• Items in the bill included in the Commission on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder recommendations are shown in boldface.

Highlights of the bill include:

• Requires providers contracting with DCF or a managing entity to use the Daily Living Activities-20 (DLA-20) to conduct a functional assessment for patients and for school districts to use the DLA-20 for students.

• Requires DCF to specify training or other requirements for mobile crisis response services available to those 65 or older to meet their needs.

• Requires that treatment plans be updated every 30 days for patients in receiving or treatment facilities. The requirement changes every 60 days for those who have been patients for over 24 months.

• Adds long-acting injectables to the options for prescribed medications included in patients' discharge plans, including addressing any barriers to continuing to receive them, and *adds the option of administering them to patients before discharge when appropriate.

• Requires DCF, in consultation with the Department of Education, to review school-based behavioral health access to telehealth every other year, emphasizing underserved and rural communities, and to present a report to the Governor, Senate President, and House Speaker.

• Requires the Criminal Justice, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse Technical Assistance Center at the Louis de la Parte Mental Health Institute at the University of South Florida to disseminate and share evidence-based and best practices for using person-first language and trauma-responsive care.

• Requires DCF, in consultation with the Agency for Health Care Administration, to review and identify the need for new short-term residential treatment facilities and additional beds in these facilities every other year, and includes the ability to request funding to address these needs.

• Requires managing entities to promote person-first language and trauma-informed responsive care to providers, peer organizations, and family members.

Adds for the Louis de la Parte Institute of Mental Health at the University of South Florida:

• The state must submit a report analyzing substance abuse and mental health services provided by publicly funded programs to the Governor, Senate President, and House Speaker by 06/30/26.

• The ability to develop and implement projects for additional pay options for clinical supervisors, workers, interns, and students in the behavioral health field.
  
• The ability to request information regarding counselors in the state from the Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy, and Mental Health Counseling.

Veterans - SB 116, sponsored by Sen. Danny Burgess and the Rules and Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services, was signed by the Governor on June 19, 2025, and went into effect on July 1, 2025. Rep. Rachel Saunders Plakon sponsored the companion House bill, HB 1043.. The bill includes this improvement related to behavioral health:

Adds training on mental health conditions for those involved in the Veterans Suicide Prevention Training Pilot Program and includes funding to implement the program.

Reporting of Student Mental Health Outcomes—CS/CS/HB 969, sponsored by Rep. Hillary Cassel and the Human Services Subcommittee and Education Administration Subcommittee, was signed by the Governor on May 30, 2025, and took effect upon its signing.

Sen. Jennifer Bradley sponsored the companion Senate bill, CS/SB 1310, with the Children, Families, and Elder Affairs Committee.

• Requires the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability in consultation with the Department of Children and Families, the Department of Education, the Louis de la Parte Mental Health Institute, and other stakeholders to provide an initial evaluation (due 12/01/25) and additional report (due 12/01/26) on mental health services in the schools including treatment outcomes, system capacity, performance, and level of integration with coordinated systems of care to be submitted to the Governor, Senate President, and House Speaker. 

Three large health bills supported by the Florida Mental Health Advocacy Coalition were signed

into law by Governor DeSantis in 2024. They all received overwhelming bipartisan support by

the Florida legislature. In addition, for the first time, $2.6 million of recurring funds were

included in the state budget for 988 Florida Lifeline call centers.

1. CS/SB 330: Behavioral Health Teaching Hospitals
2. CS/CS/HB 7021: Mental Health and Substance Abuse (Baker and Marchman Acts)
3. CS/SB 7016: Health Care ("Live Healthy Act")

1. CS/SB 330: Behavioral Health Teaching Hospitals

• Creates partnerships between community hospitals and local university medical schools to produce more behavioral health professionals 
• Establishes the Florida Center for Behavioral Health Workforce within the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute
• Establishes “Behavioral Health Teaching Hospitals” affiliated with universities
• Tampa General Hospital, in affiliation with the University of South Florida
• UF Health Shands Hospital, in affiliation with the University of Florida
• UF Health Jacksonville, in affiliation with the University of Florida
• Jackson Memorial Hospital, in affiliation with the University of Miami
• Requires the Center to do a Gap Analysis of Florida’s Behavioral Health System
• Establishes the Florida Behavioral Health Professions Scholarship and Grants Program
• The Slots for Doctors Program is expanded to Behavioral Health Teaching Hospitals to address the physician shortage by creating new resident positions.
• AHCA will allocate $150,000 for each newly created resident position (up to 10
• positions).
• Appropriates $313,000,000  ($300M for the hospitals over 3 years

2. CS/CS/HB 7021: Mental Health and Substance Abuse (Baker and Marchman Acts)

• Requires the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute to prepare and publish annual Baker/Marchman Act reports on its website.
• Creates the Behavioral Health Interagency Collaboration with the Department of Children and Families (DCF) and the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA).
• Removes the 30-bed cap for crisis stabilization units.
• Virtual court appearances and electronic signatures are allowed in most cases.
• This Update to the Baker Act criteria states that the family members or friends offering help must also be able and responsible.
• Authorizes a county to include cost-sharing arrangements for transporting individuals to a Baker-Act facility.
• Law enforcement, like judges and behavioral health professionals, are not required to initiate a Baker Act but may use discretion.
• Prohibits courts from ordering an individual with a developmental disability who lacks a co-occurring mental illness to a state mental health treatment facility.

3. Improved Discharge Planning that includes: 

• Referral to care coordination services.
• Coordination with patient to a less-restrictive community behavioral health provider, a peer specialist, a case manager, or a care coordination service.
• Development of a personalized crisis prevention plan for the patient.
• Engagement of a family member, legal guardian, legal representative, or a natural support of the patient’s in discharge planning.
• Referral to an appropriate provider to continue care for instances where certain levels of care are not immediately available at discharge.
• Specifies that the 72-hour examination period begins when a patient arrives at the facility and prohibits the facility from releasing a patient outside of the facility’s ordinary business hours if the 72-hour period ends on a weekend or holiday.
• Removes the involuntary outpatient services requirement that the person must have
• been committed to a receiving or treatment facility or received mental health services in a forensic or correctional facility within the preceding 36-month period
• Judges may order involuntary outpatient treatment for up to 6 months; they may also
• order a combination of involuntary inpatient and outpatient treatment.
• Behavioral health providers must report involuntary outpatient non-adherence to the court.

New Requirements for Patient Communication Protocols:

• Requires treatment facility staff to record any restriction on communication and its reasons in the patient’s clinical file within 24 hours and to immediately serve the document of record to the patient, the patient's attorney, and the patient's guardian, guardian advocate, or representative.
• To ensure continuity of care, the bill grants the patient’s legal custodian access to their appropriate information and clinical records and allows them to authorize the release of these records to the appropriate persons.

Changes Related to Minors:

• Revises the voluntariness provision under the Baker Act to allow a minor’s voluntary admission after a clinical review, rather than requiring a court hearing.
• Requires law enforcement, when transporting a minor for involuntary examination, to provide the parent or legal guardian with the name, address, and contact information for the receiving facility to which the officer is transporting the minor to before departing, if the minor’s parent or legal guardian is present, subject to any safety and welfare concerns.
• Creates the Office of Children’s Behavioral Health Ombudsman within DCF to be a central point to receive complaints on behalf of children and adolescents with behavioral health disorders receiving state-funded services and to use this information to improve their support system.

Changes to the Marchman Act:

• One petition is sufficient to initiate “involuntary treatment services.” Previously, there was a requirement for two separate petitions to the court, one for involuntary assessment and one for involuntary treatment.
• Criteria changed from “meets criteria” to “reasonably appears to meet criteria,” which creates a lower threshold to meet for court-ordered substance-use services.
• At discharge from involuntary treatment services, a person must receive a follow up behavioral health appointment, information on how to obtain prescription medication, information and referral for services such as housing, transportation, and recovery support which may include connection to a peer specialist (aligns with Baker Act requirements). 
• The 72-hour period may be extended if there is medical necessity for detoxing, or if the discharge would fall on a weekend or holiday.
• The person must be assigned a case manager or social worker or "responsible advocate" to provide support.
• Appropriates $50 million to the DCF to implement.

CS/SB 7016: Health Care ("Live Healthy Act") 

Behavioral Health Initiatives within the Bill:

• Creates minimum standards for mobile crisis response teams to divert crises and reduce involuntary commitment.
• Triage and rapid crisis intervention within 60 minutes.
• Referral to evidence-based services responsive to individual’s and family’s needs
• Screening, assessment, early identification, care coordination.
• Confirmation that person was connected to a provider and medication, as needed.
• Requires AHCA to seek federal approval for coverage and reimbursement authority for mobile crisis response services for children, youth, and young adults.
• Appropriates $11,525,152 in recurring funds to enhance crisis diversion through Mobile
• Response by expanding existing teams and/or establishing new teams.
• Creates a loan payment program for students in health care professions, including mental health to help build the workforce.

Nine behavioral health bills supported by the Florida Mental Health Advocacy Coalition were signed into law by Governor DeSantis. They all received overwhelming bipartisan support by the Florida legislature. 

1. Suicide Prevention - The "988 Study Bill"
2. Fentanyl Testing Strips
3. Mental Health Treatment
4. Trauma Screening for Children Removed from Caregivers
5. Operation and Administration of the Baker Act
6. Meetings/Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact 
7. Substance Abuse Services
8. Certified Peer Specialist Gateway Pilot Program
9. Problem-Solving Courts

• Revises the purposes of the Commission to include an assessment of the state’s suicide prevention infrastructure and other components of the state’s crisis response services. This assessment includes identifying available funds that can be used to support the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline;
• Renames the Commission on Mental Health and Substance Abuse to the “Commission on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder”
• Requires the Commission to evaluate and make recommendations regarding the use of Mental Health First Aid and similar training;
• Extends the work of the Commission through September 1, 2026.
• Adds a representative from the statewide Florida 211 Network as a member of the Commission;
• Allows active, volunteer, and auxiliary first responder agencies to designate their own peers.

"Excludes from the definition “drug paraphernalia” narcotic-drug-testing products used solely to determine whether a controlled substance contains fentanyl or other substances. This exclusion does not apply to a narcotic-drug-testing product that can measure or determine a controlled substance's quantity, weight, or potency. substance's

• Allows the Department of Children and Families to issue a conditional designation for up to a certain number of days to allow the implementation of certain corrective measures by receiving facilities, treatment facilities, and receiving systems while keeping facilities open;

• Requires the sheriff to administer or to permit the department to administer the appropriate psychotropic medication to forensic clients before admission to a state mental health treatment facility;

• Requires consideration of Community Treatment for forensic patients, and speeds up the Competency Restoration process for clients designated as "incompetent to proceed" (which should divert more people from the process). 

•  Requires trauma-focused screening within 14 days after a child is removed from their Caregiver, no matter where the child is placed.

• If screening is positive, the child must receive trauma-focused services provided by community-based care agencies. 

Requires the Department of Children and Families to update the handbook and FAQs on the website for the Baker Act. The last manual on the Baker Act was published in 2014, and the legislature has amended the law several times since. 

Authorizes psychologists in compact states to practice telepsychology in other compact states. Includes bill to exempt confidential information from public records.  

Addresses application and credentialing requirements for recovery residences, including proof of a prohibition on the premises against alcohol, marijuana, illegal drugs, and the use of prescribed medications by an individual other than the individual for whom the medication is prescribed.  

Establishes the Certified Peer Specialist Gateway 3-year Pilot Program within the Department of Corrections for four institutions: Gadsden Re-entry (north of Tallahassee), Baker Re-entry (west of Jacksonville), Lowell Annex in Ocala, and Marion Correctional. Provides participating inmates with a path to become Certified Recovery Peer Specialists.   

Expands eligibility for voluntary problem-solving courts such as Drug and Mental Health Courts and bases the time in the adjudicated treatment program on clinical criteria.