ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — The Georgia Senate voted 49-1 Friday to approve the amended state budget, including a late addition to spend $409 million building a 300-bed forensic mental health hospital, the state’s first new psychiatric facility in more than 60 years.

The vote came six days after a federal court released Georgia from a 16-year ban on constructing such facilities. Sheriffs from across the state backed the plan, saying their jails have become mental health wards.

“Our county’s jails became the state’s mental health hospitals,” said state Sen. Blake Tillery, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “That burden has gone on for far too long.”

Sheriffs and police chiefs packed the state Capitol steps Friday and applauded from the gallery as the Senate passed the amended fiscal 2026 budget.

Sheriff Ron Freeman of Forsyth County, president of the Georgia Sheriff’s Association, said jails are expected to run out of beds because of increased mental health needs.

“Sometimes, the crime was committed because they have a severe mental illness and they need treatment, not incarceration,” Freeman said.

In Atlanta, police respond to about 19 mental health calls daily, according to Police Chief Darin Schierbaum.

“We have limited places we can take individuals in a health crisis in Atlanta,” Schierbaum said.

Schierbaum said officers can take people only to Grady Memorial Hospital or the county’s diversion center.

The hospital would be the largest mental health investment Georgia has made since the 1960s, according to Senate leadership.

But not all lawmakers support the plan.

State Rep. Imani Barnes (D-Atlanta) said the plan repeats past mistakes by institutionalizing people rather than preventing mental health crises.

“We do not continue to institutionalize further,” Barnes said. “Let’s put money into a more positive way of addressing mental health.”

Barnes is pushing her own legislation — the EmPATH Act — which would create specialized emergency units to stabilize people in crisis and return them home within 24 hours.

After the Senate passed the budget on Friday, the House objected twice, setting up a potential battle in negotiations.

The House must approve the budget before it reaches Gov. Brian Kemp.

Earlier this month, a federal judge released Georgia from behavioral health provisions of the 2010 Olmstead Settlement Agreement. The settlement required Georgia to increase community-based services for people with mental illnesses and intellectual disabilities.

If approved, Tillery said the hospital would be built in Augusta or Atlanta because of medical staffing requirements. Construction would take two to three years.

Tillery said Georgia needs 800 forensic mental health beds as 300 beds won’t solve the problem entirely.

The Senate’s amended budget differs from the budgets proposed by Kemp and the House. All three bodies must agree before the budget becomes law.

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