This docum ent does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill sponsor or House of Representatives.
STORAGE NAME: h0899a.ELE
DATE: 1/13/2022
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STAFF ANALYSIS
BILL #: HB 899 Mental Health of Students
SPONSOR(S): Hunschofsky
TIED BILLS: None IDEN./SIM. BILLS: SB 1240
REFERENCE ACTION ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR or
BUDGET/POLICY CHIEF
1) Early Learning & Elementary Education
Subcommittee
18 Y, 0 N Wolff Brink
2) Children, Families & Seniors Subcommittee
3) Appropriations Committee
4) Education & Employment Committee
SUMMARY ANALYSIS
The bill revises requirements for a school district’s annual mental health assistance allocation plan to include
policies and procedures that require the provision of information on available mental health services and
resources for students and their families. The bill requires school districts to provide a parent of a student
receiving services information about available behavioral health services through the school or local
community-based behavioral health providers. Additionally, school districts must provide any individual living in
the same household as a student receiving services with information about available behavioral health
services, when receipt of such services could benefit the well-being of the student.
The bill clarifies that charter schools must comply with involuntary examination data reporting requirements
established by the Legislature in 2021 and requires the Department of Education to share school related
involuntary examination data with the Department of Children and Families (DCF) by July 1 each year. The bill
requires that DCF use this data in its biennial analysis of involuntary examinations of minors in Florida.
The bill does not have a fiscal impact.
The bill has an effective date of July 1, 2022. STORAGE NAME: h0899a.ELE PAGE: 2
DATE: 1/13/2022
FULL ANALYSIS
I. SUBSTANTIVE ANALYSIS
A. EFFECT OF PROPOSED CHANGES:
Present Situation
Student Mental Health
In 2018, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act
1
created the Mental Health
Assistance Allocation within the Florida Education Finance Program.
2
The allocation is intended to
provide funding to assist school districts in establishing or expanding school-based mental health care,
train educators and other school staff in detecting and responding to mental health issues, and
connecting children, youth, and families who may experience behavior health issues with appropriate
services.
3
For the 2021-2022 school year, $120 million was appropriated for the allocation.
4
Each
school district receives a minimum of $100,000 and the remaining balance is allocated based on each
district’s proportionate share of the state’s total unweighted full-time equivalent student enrollment.
5
Eligible charter schools are entitled to a proportionate share of the school district’s allocation.
6
School districts are prohibited from using the funds allocated under this section to supplant funds from
other operating funds used for the provision of mental health services. These funds may not be used for
salary increases or bonuses.
7
In order to receive allocation funds, a school district must develop and submit to the district school
board for approval a detailed plan outlining its local program and planned expenditures.
8
A school
district’s plan must include all district schools, including charter schools, unless a charter school elects
to submit a plan independently from the school district.
9
Each approved plan must be submitted to the
commissioner by August 1 each year.
10
The plan must be focused on a multitiered system of supports to deliver evidence-based mental health
care assessment, diagnosis, intervention, treatment, and recovery services. Supports and services
under the allocation are provided to students with one or more mental health or co-occurring substance
abuse diagnoses and to students at high risk of such diagnoses. The provision of these services must
be coordinated with a student’s primary mental health care provider and with other mental health
providers involved in the student’s care.
11
Plans must include elements such as:
12
direct employment of school-based mental health service providers to expand and enhance
school-based student services and reduce the ratio of students to staff to align with nationally
recommended ratio models;
contracts or interagency agreements with one or more local community behavioral health
providers or providers of Community Action Team services to provide behavioral health staff
presence and services at district schools;
1
Chapter 2018-3, L.O.F.
2
Section 1011.62(14), F.S.
3
Id.
4
Specific Appropriations 7 and 90, s. 2, ch. 2021-36, L.O.F.
5
Section 1011.62(14), F.S.; See also Florida Department of Education, Florida Education Finance Program 2021-22 Second
Calculation, p. 33, available at https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7507/urlt/2122FEFPSecondCalc.pdf.
6
Section 1011.62(14), F.S.
7
Id.
8
Section 1011.62(14)(a)1.-2., F.S.
9
Id.
10
Section 1011.62(14)(c), F.S.
11
Section 1011.62(14)(b), F.S.
12
Id. STORAGE NAME: h0899a.ELE PAGE: 3
DATE: 1/13/2022
policies and procedures which ensure students who are referred to a school-based or
community-based mental health service provider for mental health screening are assessed
within 15 days of referral, and that school-based mental health services are initiated within 15
days after identification and assessment and community-based mental health services are
initiated within 30 days after school or district referral;
policies and procedures to assist, prior to the initiation of an involuntary examination (Baker
Act), a mental or behavioral health provider, or school-based law enforcement officer who has
completed crisis intervention training, attempting to verbally de-escalate a student in crisis,
including strategies to de-escalate a student with a developmental disability in crisis; and
policies requiring that school or law enforcement personnel, prior to initiating a Baker Act, make
a reasonable attempt to contact a metal health professional authorized to initiate a Baker Act,
unless the student in crisis poses an imminent danger to themselves or others.
School districts are also required to report program outcomes and expenditures for the previous fiscal
year by September 30 each year.
13
The report must, at a minimum, provide the number of each of the
following:
14
Students who receive screenings or assessments.
Students who are referred to either school-based or community-based providers for services.
Students who receive either school-based or community based interventions.
School-based or community-based mental health providers that were paid out of the mental
health assistance allocation.
Contract-based collaboration efforts or partnerships with community mental health programs.
Mental Health Data Reporting & Analysis
A student with an acute mental health crisis may require emergency treatment to stabilize his or her
condition. Florida law specifies criteria that a person must meet to be transported to a receiving facility for a
Baker Act; it also limits who may initiate the exam.
15
School personnel are not among those authorized to
initiate a Baker Act, unless they are one of the professional certificate holders identified in law, such as
certain nurses, mental health counselors or social workers.
16
In a school setting, it is often a law
enforcement officer who evaluates the student and determines if he or she appears to meet statutory
criteria.
17
When the determination is made in the affirmative, then law enforcement removes the student
from campus and provides transport to a receiving facility.
18
Professionals who initiate Baker Acts are required to capture the circumstances of the mental health crisis
and make an affirmative statement that the person examined meets statutory criteria.
19
This information is
recorded on a standardized form and reported to the Department of Children and Families (DCF).
20
The
DCF contracts with the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at the University of South Florida
(Institute) to perform the data analysis and provide an annual report using, among other things, the
information provided on the forms.
21
The Institute also analyzes other information relating to mental health
and acts as a provider of crisis services to certain patients.
22
Among other sources of information and data,
current law requires the Office of Safe Schools within the Department of Education (DOE) to provide data
to the Institute to support the evaluation of mental health services in the state.
23
13
Section 1011.62(14)(d), F.S.
14
Id.
15
Section 394.463, F.S.
16
Section 394.463(2)(a), F.S.
17
Section 394.463(2)(a)2., F.S.
18
Id.
19
Section 394.463(2)(a)3., F.S.; Rule 65E-5.280(3), F.A.C.
20
Section 394.463(2)(a)(3., F.S.; Rules 65E-5.120 and 65E-5.280(3), F.A.C.
21
University of South Florida, Baker Act Reporting Center, About Us, https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/baker-act/about/index.aspx (last
visited Jan. 7, 2022).
22
See University of South Florida, Baker Act Reporting Center, What We Do, https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/baker-
act/about/whatwedo.aspx (last visited Jan. 7, 2022); and University of South Florida, Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute,
About the Institute, https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/fmhi/about/ (last visited Jan. 7, 2022).
23
Section 1001.212(7), F.S. STORAGE NAME: h0899a.ELE PAGE: 4
DATE: 1/13/2022
In addition to the annual report, the Legislature required the DCF to investigate the number of Baker Acts
of minors and provide recommendations for process improvement. In 2017, a DCF task force issued a
report concluding that Bakers Acts of minors were increasing but that specific causes of the increase are
unknown.
24
The increase in Florida was consistent with national statistics, and the report noted that the
increase could be a reflection of the increase in the identification of mental health disorders among children
and young adults.
25
Additionally, the task force suggested that the increase in Baker Acts among children
could be the result of recent initiatives designed to improve Florida’s mental health system and provide
earlier diagnosis and treatment.
26
As a follow up to the 2017 task force report, in 2019, the Legislature required the DCF to publish a report
every other year to examine the initiation of Baker Acts for minors. The initial report published pursuant to
this requirement found that of the 36,078 Baker Acts of minors in FY 2017-2018,
27
only 20 percent were
initiated while the child was in a school setting.
28
Of the number of all Baker Acts in that year, minors
represented only 18 percent of the total.
29
From FY 2013-2014 to FY 2017-2018, statewide Baker Acts of
children increased 19 percent, while only increasing by 14 percent for young adults (ages 18-24) and 16
percent overall.
30
In 2021, the Legislature
31
required the DCF to include in its analysis data on the initiation of Baker Acts of
students who are removed from schools, to identify trends in Baker Acts involving students, and to make
recommendations to encourage the use of alternatives to Baker Acts.
32
To aide the DCF in this task, school
districts are required to annually report to the DOE the number of Baker Acts initiated at a school, on
school transportation, or at a school-sponsored event.
33
While the DOE is required to share this data with
the DCF, the law does not provide a timeframe for doing so.
34
In its 2021 biennial analysis of Bakers Acts of minors, the DCF reported 24,171 Baker Acts of minors under
the age of 18 for FY 2019-2020 and that these made up 18 percent of all (128,193) Baker Acts that year.
35
Based on preliminary data from FY 2020-2021, DCF reports a decrease in Baker Acts of children occurring
in the school setting, with fewer than 15 percent of such Baker Acts being initiated at schools.
36
Effect of Proposed Changes
The bill clarifies the school district Baker Act reporting process by explicitly requiring charter schools to
report Baker Act data, requiring the DOE to share the Baker Act data with the DCF no later than July 1
each year, and requiring the DCF to use this Baker Act data in its analysis for its biennial report on
Baker Acts of minors.
24
Florida Department of Children and Families, Task Force Report on Involuntary Examination of Minors, (Nov. 2017), p. 21,
https://www.myflfamilies.com/service-programs/samh/publications/docs/S17-005766-
TASK%20FORCE%20ON%20INVOLUNTA RY%20EXAMINATION%20OF%20MINORS.pdf .
25
Id. at 21-22.
26
Id. at 24.
27
Florida Department of Children and Families, Report on Involuntary Examinations of Minors, (Nov. 2019), available at
https://www.myflfamilies.com/service-
programs/samh/publications/docs/Report%20on%20Involuntary%20Examination%20of%20Minors.pdf.
28
Id. at 14.
29
Id. at 25.
30
Id.
31
Chapter 2021-176, L.O.F.
32
Section 394.463(4), F.S.
33
Section 1006.07(10), F.S.
34
See s. 1001.212(7), F.S.
35
Florida Department of Children and Families, Report of Involuntary Examinations of Children, (Nov. 2021), p. 8, available at
https://www.myflfamilies.com/service-
programs/samh/publications/docs/Report%20on%20Involuntary%20Examination%20of%20Minors%20-%202021.pdf.
36
Id. at 9. The report does note that for 8 percent of Baker Acts the setting of the initiation was not reported. STORAGE NAME: h0899a.ELE PAGE: 5
DATE: 1/13/2022
The bill revises requirements for a school district’s annual mental health assistance allocation plan to
include policies and procedures that require the provision of information on available mental health
services and resources for students and their families. Specifically, the bill requires school districts to:
Provide a parent of a student receiving services information about available behavioral health
services through the school or local community-based behavioral health providers. To meet this
requirement, a school may provide internet addresses of online directories or guides for local
behavioral health services.
Provide any individual living in the same household as a student receiving services under this
section information about behavioral health services available through other delivery systems or
payors for which they may qualify, if such services appear to be needed or enhancements in
their behavioral health would contribute to the improved well-being of the student.
B. SECTION DIRECTORY:
Section 1. Amends s. 394.463, F.S.; revising data the Department of Children and Families is
required to analyze when creating its annual report on the initiation of certain involuntary
examinations.
Section 2. Amends s. 1002.33, F.S.; requiring charter schools to be in compliance with laws
relating to reporting involuntary examinations.
Section 3. Amends s. 1006.07, F.S.; requiring the Department of Education, by a specified date, to
share with the Department of Children and Families data received from school districts
relating to involuntary examinations.
Section 4. Amends s. 1011.62, F.S.; revising requirements for plans relating to mental health
assistance allocations.
Section 5. Providing an effective date.
II. FISCAL ANALYSIS & ECONOMIC IMPACT STATEMENT
A. FISCAL IMPACT ON STATE GOVERNMENT:
1. Revenues:
None.
2. Expenditures:
None.
B. FISCAL IMPACT ON LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
1. Revenues:
None.
2. Expenditures:
None.
C. DIRECT ECONOMIC IMPACT ON PRIVATE SECTOR:
None.
D. FISCAL COMMENTS:
None.
STORAGE NAME: h0899a.ELE PAGE: 6
DATE: 1/13/2022
III. COMMENTS
A. CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES:
1. Applicability of Municipality/County Mandates Provision:
None.
2. Other:
None.
B. RULE-MAKING AUTHORITY:
None.
C. DRAFTING ISSUES OR OTHER COMMENTS:
None.
IV. AMENDMENTS/ COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE CHANGES
None.