Colorado lawmakers from both parties are backing a bill that would reshape how the state handles defendants found incompetent to stand trial and unlikely to regain competency, aiming to fill long-standing gaps in treatment and placement.

Sponsors of Senate Bill 149 are acting after a series of high‑profile incidents exposed serious gaps in how the state handles people who are found incompetent to stand trial.

One incident involved Solomon Galligan, a 33‑year‑old man diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, who was arrested last year after allegedly attempting to abduct children from a playground in Aurora.

Galligan’s charges were dismissed after he was found incompetent to stand trial, and he was transferred to a psychiatric facility — an outcome many others with similar conditions never receive.

According to Boulder Democrat Sen. Judy Amabile, an advocate for justice-involved individuals with mental illnesses, many people are simply released after their charges are dropped without anywhere to go.

While some individuals are sent to the state’s mental hospital in Pueblo, others, especially those found incompetent for reasons unrelated to mental illness, such as traumatic brain injuries or dementia, are released back onto the streets without support or treatment. Many often become reoffenders.

That’s where sponsors say Senate Bill 149 comes in. The measure would allow district and county attorneys to petition for civil commitment or enhanced protective placements for defendants with mental or developmental disabilities who have committed violent or sexual offenses and are considered a danger to themselves or others.

According to the proposed bill, the court would be required to suspend the order dismissing that defendant’s case, set a trial date, and order the state’s Department of Human Services to find an appropriate placement for the defendant.

If the state’s health department cannot secure a placement within 70 days, it must place the individual in a state hospital if they have a mental illness, or in a skilled nursing facility if they have an intellectual or developmental disability.

The bill also includes provisions on review hearings, terminations of civil commitments or enhanced protective placements, and defendants’ rights to modifications to their placement plans.

Amabile is sponsoring the bill with Republican Senate Minority Leader Cleave Simpson, who says criminal justice and mental health policy aren’t his usual focus but felt compelled to address the state’s lack of appropriate placements for defendants with severe mental illness or developmental disabilities.

“Colorado has not done well in this space for a long time,” Simpson admitted. “The challenge is, how do you develop this concept for moving from the criminal justice system to the civil justice system? You create resources, bed space, and treatment programs, and fit within the constraints of a budget.”

Simpson said it was difficult to estimate SB 149’s fiscal impact because it’s not known how many individuals would be impacted by the bill, but Amabile estimated it would be fewer than 100 people.

The state is facing a $1.2 billion budget deficit, leaving little room for new spending. Even so, Gov. Jared Polis has committed up to $12 million to add civil commitment beds for people found incompetent to stand trial and unlikely to regain competency.

“This bill is really meant to address a very narrow thing, and I think we will be successful in addressing that,” Amabile said. “It’s important, but it doesn’t address the bigger problem, which is that we don’t have the capacity to treat people who absolutely need and deserve treatment.”

Simpson said the bill reflects months of collaboration between district attorneys and public defenders as they worked toward a workable compromise.

 “It’s been an exhaustive effort to come together and offer a solution to this problem, so the fundamental recognition that there’s a need is there,” he said. “It’s been something that’s needed to be addressed for quite some time… you can’t just keep denying that the challenge or the gap or whatever you want to call it is not there.”

The bill cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously on Monday.

Committee member Sen. John Carson, R‑Highlands Ranch, called it “if not the most important bill we’ll pass this year, clearly one of the most important.”

SB 149 now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

In the House, the measure is also sponsored by Speaker Julie McCluskie, D‑Dillon, and Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell, R‑Colorado Springs.

In an ideal world, Amabile said the state would invest in a new mental hospital with civil commitment beds. Besides SB 149, earlier in the session, Amabile tried to pass legislation that would have asked voters to approve a tax increase on alcohol and marijuana to fund a mental health facility in Aurora, but it failed.