The Children, Families, Health, and Human Services Interim Committee will begin work on three mental health studies when it meets Sept. 22 in Helena.

The committee also will hear about the preliminary results of judicial pilot projects involving early hearings and prehearing conferences in child abuse and neglect case. House Bill 39 from the 2019 legislative session requires the committee to review the results. If members believe the results are promising, the presiding officer must appoint a working group to consider how the pilot projects could be expanded across the state.

The committee’s mental health studies are based on three study resolutions passed during this year’s legislative session, seeking review of the adult mental health system, the children’s mental health system, and the use of involuntary commitments for people with dementia.

Committee members also are will hear more detailed information about two administrative rules to which the members have informally objected. The objections have delayed implementation of the rules. Members must decide at this meeting whether to continue the objections.

The meeting begins at 8 a.m. on Sept. 22 in Room 137 of the Capitol and on Zoom. Members of the public may offer comment in person without signing up or may sign up by 5 p.m. on Sept. 21 to offer public comment remotely via Zoom. They also may submit written public comment in advance of the meeting. The links for submitting written public comment and for signing up to testify remotely are available on the committee’s website at www.leg.mt.gov/cfhhs, along with other meeting-related materials.