Florida lawmakers want to do the right thing for PTSD veterans

Best news I've heard in a long time! Just goes to show that there is still hope down here in Florida to get it right when it comes to our veterans. Judge T. Patt Maney, Rep. Bryan Nelson, and Senator Mike Bennett want to make sure PTSD combat veterans are given help when they need it instead of just being locked up in jail.

Lawmakers Push Veterans’ Court

By Kathleen Haughney
The News Service Of Florida

Lawmakers are testing the waters for a statewide court initiative for certain veterans just as judges in Palm Beach County are directing offenders who served in the armed forces to a veterans-only court docket.

In Okaloosa County, Judge T. Patt Maney has been working a veterans’ docket for more than a year, and last week, Palm Beach County launched its own veterans’ court effort. But Rep. Bryan Nelson, R-Apopka, and Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, are proposing that all Florida court circuits start dealing with veterans with post traumatic stress separately from other offenders.
“I guess there’s a few other states that have them, and golly, why don’t we have one?” Nelson asked about courts specifically for veterans.

Nelson and Bennett, who is a Vietnam veteran, are sponsoring HB 17/SB 138, which directs the state’s courts to create a system where veterans with post traumatic stress disorder are identified through a preliminary screening process and then shuttled to a specific docket where a judge can sentence the veteran to a treatment program, rather than jail time.

read more here
Lawmakers Push Veterans Court