Revision: Feb. 9, 2021, 10:53 a.m.
SB 156 - AS INTRODUCED
2021 SESSION
21-0879
08/11
SENATE BILL 156
AN ACT relative to management of the secure psychiatric unit facility at New Hampshire hospital.
SPONSORS: Sen. French, Dist 7; Sen. Giuda, Dist 2; Sen. Gray, Dist 6; Sen. Carson, Dist 14; Sen. D'Allesandro, Dist 20; Sen. Birdsell, Dist 19; Sen. Sherman, Dist 24
COMMITTEE: Health and Human Services
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ANALYSIS
This bill declares that the management of the new secure psychiatric unit facility shall be the responsibility of the department of health and human services. Under this bill, the department shall not enter into a contract for the construction or operation of the facility with a private for profit prison construction or management company.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
21-0879
08/11
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty One
AN ACT relative to management of the secure psychiatric unit facility at New Hampshire hospital.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Appropriation; Secure Psychiatric Unit Facility. Amend 2019, 346:357 to read as follows:
346:357 Appropriation; Secure Psychiatric Unit Facility. The sum of $8,750,000 for the biennium ending June 30, 2021 is hereby appropriated to the department of health and human services and shall be expended for the purpose of constructing a new 25-bed secure psychiatric unit facility on the New Hampshire Hospital grounds. The sum appropriated shall be nonlapsing, provided that any unexpended amount following construction shall lapse to the general fund. The facility shall be built to house such persons that do not require continued joint commission accreditation. The department of administrative services shall prioritize this project in its workload. The department of administrative services and the department of health and human shall provide reports each quarter to the fiscal committee of the general court and the senate finance and house finance committees concerning the progress of the project. Appropriate persons housed in the secure psychiatric unit of the state prison shall be safely transferred to this facility no later than 2 weeks after it is operational. [This facility shall be operated and managed by the department of health and human services. The state shall not enter into a contract with a private or for-profit prison company for the construction or operation of the secure psychiatric facility unit.] Management of the secure psychiatric unit facility shall be the responsibility of the department of health and human services. The department may contract with private psychiatric services providers but shall not enter into a contract for the construction or operation of the facility with a private, for profit prison construction or management company. The governor is authorized to draw a warrant for said sum out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.