HELENA — Rep. James Reavis, D-Billings, said the 14th Amendment requires “fitness to proceed” — meaning those charged with a crime must be able to understand what they are being accused of.

Reavis is sponsoring House Bill 236 in an effort to protect prisoners’ constitutional rights to due process by adding enhanced access to psychological care in detention centers to state law.

Reavis said current law only includes psychological screening at one in-person facility in the state.

“And that was creating a really big backlog,” Reavis said. “So what the department started doing a couple of years ago that's been really helpful is they've started opening up the process a little bit.”

Some facilities have started bringing in outside psychiatric care, a process that has helped the backlog but is not yet codified in state law. The bill would also include online ”telehealth” consultations.

Senator and Judiciary Committee Chairman Barry Usher, R-Yellowstone County, had several questions at a Senate hearing Monday about how the bill would work.

“ The biggest issue has been trying to get enough psychiatrists on the list in most jurisdictions,” Usher said. “The question is, why do we need this bill if we're already doing this through rule?”

Reavis said HB 236 would set these practices in stone and create sideboards for any future legislation.

The bill drew no opposition during the Monday hearing and it passed the House on wide margins last month.

Clayton Murphy is a reporter with the UM Legislative News Service, a partnership of the University of Montana School of Journalism, the Montana Broadcasters Association, the Montana Newspaper Association and the Greater Montana Foundation. Murphy can be reached at [email protected].