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General Assembly Committee Bill No. 5145
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 4643
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC HEALTH
Introduced by:
(PH)
AN ACT CONCERNING RE GIONAL BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AC TION
ORGANIZATIONS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (Effective from passage) The Department of Mental Health 1
and Addiction Services shall study the efficacy of regional behavioral 2
health action organizations established pursuant to section 2 of this act. 3
Such study shall include an evaluation of the services provided by 4
such organizations and recommendations concerning such services. 5
Not later than January 1, 2020, the Commissioner of Mental Health and 6
Addiction Services shall report, in accordance with the provisions of 7
section 11-4a of the general statutes, regarding the findings of such 8
study to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having 9
cognizance of matters relating to public health. 10
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) There are established within 11
the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services five regional 12
behavioral health action organizations for each mental health region in 13
the state established pursuant to section 17a-478 of the general statutes. 14
Each regional behavioral health action organization shall work across 15
the continuum of behavioral health care as strategic community 16
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partners for the planning, education and advocacy for behavioral 17
health needs and services within the region. 18
(b) The duties of each regional behavioral health action 19
organization, within its mental health region, shall include, but need 20
not be limited to: (1) Assess the behavioral health needs of children, 21
adolescents and adults across the regions, (2) develop strategic plans to 22
include priority recommendations for substance abuse prevention, 23
treatment and recovery services, (3) administer grants to municipalities 24
to stimulate the development and implementation of substance abuse 25
prevention activities, (4) build the capacity of local communities to 26
understand and address problem gambling, (5) raise awareness and 27
provide advocacy to the general public related to mental health 28
promotion and substance abuse prevention, treatment and recovery, 29
(6) leverage funds to support substance abuse prevention, treatment 30
and recovery activities, (7) serve on local, regional and state-wide 31
advisory and planning bodies, and (8) provide training in the 32
administration of an opioid antagonist, as defined in section 17a-714a 33
of the general statutes, and distribute supplies of opioid antagonists to 34
communities. 35
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage New section
Sec. 2 from passage New section
Statement of Purpose:
To establish regional behavioral health action organizations and to
study the efficacy of such organizations and make recommendations
concerning their services.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline,
except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is
not underlined.]
Co-Sponsors: REP. MCCARTY, 38th Dist.; REP. MICHEL, 146th Dist.
REP. COMEY, 102nd Dist.
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H.B. 5145