Committee chair impedes bill to let treatment and diversion programs include those with mental illness

The Assembly and Joint Committee on Finance have approved a bill aimed at including criminal defendants diagnosed with mental illness into treatment and diversion programs. However, it's now held up at the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Labor, where Committee Chair Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, has refused to take a vote due to his personal opposition to prescribing drugs for treating mental health issues, he told Wisconsin Health News. (WHN, 3/10)