The Florida Senate
BILL ANALYSIS AND FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT
(This document is based on the provisions contained in the legislation as of the latest date listed below.)
Prepared By: The Professional Staff of the Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs
BILL: SB 1394
INTRODUCER: Senator Gruters
SUBJECT: Mental Health
DATE: January 21, 2024
ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR REFERENCE ACTION
1. Hall Tuszynski CF Pre-meeting
2. AHS
3. FP
I. Summary:
SB 1394 requires the Department of Children and Families to contract with managing entities to
place crisis counselors within local law enforcement agencies to conduct follow-up contacts with
children, adolescents, and adults who have been involuntarily committed under the Baker Act by
a law enforcement officer.
The bill details the requirements of crisis counselors and the managing entities.
The bill has an indeterminate, but likely significant, negative fiscal impact on state government.
The bill provides an effective date of July 1, 2024.
II. Present Situation:
Mental Health and Mental Illness
Mental Health is a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities can
cope with normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to contribute
to his or her community.
1
The primary indicators used to evaluate an individual’s mental health
are:
2
Emotional well-being: perceived life satisfaction, happiness, cheerfulness, peacefulness;
Psychological well-being: self-acceptance, personal growth including openness to new
experiences, optimism, hopefulness, purpose in life, control of one’s environment,
spirituality, self-direction, and positive relationships; and
1
World Health Organization, Mental Health: Strengthening Our Response, available at https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-
sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthening-our-response (last visited January 20, 2024).
2
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mental Health Basics, available at http://medbox.iiab.me/modules/en-
cdc/www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/basics.htm (last visited January 20, 2024).
REVISED: BILL: SB 1394 Page 2
Social well-being: social acceptance, beliefs in the potential of people and society as a whole,
personal self-worth and usefulness to society, sense of community.
Mental illness is collectively all diagnosable mental disorders or health conditions that are
characterized by alterations in thinking, mood or behavior (or some combination thereof)
associated with distress or impaired functioning.
3
Thus, mental health refers to an individual’s
mental state of well-being whereas mental illness signifies an alteration of that well-being.
Mental illness affects millions of people in the United States each year. More than one in five
adults lives with a mental illness.
4
Young adults aged 18-25 had the highest prevalence of any
mental illness
5
(33.7%) compared to adults aged 26-49 (28.1%) and aged 50 and older (15.0%).
6
Mental Health Safety Net Services
The Department of Children and Families (DCF) administers a statewide system of safety-net
services for substance abuse and mental health (SAMH) prevention, treatment and recovery for
children and adults who are otherwise unable to obtain these services. SAMH programs include a
range of prevention, acute interventions (e.g., crisis stabilization), residential treatment,
transitional housing, outpatient treatment, and recovery support services. Services are provided
based upon state and federally-established priority populations.
Behavioral Health Managing Entities
In 2001, the Legislature authorized DCF to implement and pilot behavioral health managing
entities (ME) as the management structure for the delivery of local mental health and substance
abuse services.
7
In 2008, the Legislature authorized DCF to implement MEs statewide.
8
MEs
were fully implemented statewide in 2013, serving all geographic regions.
DCF currently contracts with seven MEs for behavioral health services throughout the state.
These entities do not provide direct services; rather, they allow the DCF’s funding to be tailored
to the specific behavioral health needs of various regions of the state. The regions are as
follows:
9
3
Id.
4
National Institute of Mental Health, Mental Illness, https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness (last visited
January 20, 2024).
5
Any mental illness (AMI) is defined as a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder. AMI can vary in impact, ranging from
no impairment to mild, moderate, and even severe impairment (e.g., individuals with serious mental illness).
6
National Institute of Mental Health (NIH), Mental Illness, available at https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-
illness (last visited January 20, 2024).
7
Ch. 2001-191, Laws of Fla.
8
Ch. 2008-243, Laws of Fla.
9
DCF, Managing Entities, available at https://www.myflfamilies.com/services/samh/providers/managing-entities (last visited
January 20, 2024). BILL: SB 1394 Page 3
Coordinated System of Care
Managing entities are required to promote the development and implementation of a coordinated
system of care.
10
A coordinated system of care means a full array of behavioral and related
services in a region or community offered by all service providers, providing service under
contract with a managing entity or by another method of community partnership or mutual
agreement.
11
A community or region provides a coordinated system of care for those with a
mental illness or substance abuse disorder through a no-wrong-door model, to the extent allowed
by available resources. MEs must submit detailed plans to enhance crisis services based on the
no-wrong-door model or to meet specific needs identified in DCF’s assessment of behavioral
health services in this state.
12
DCF must use performance-based contracts to awards grants.
13
10
Section 394.9082(5)(d), F.S.
11
Section 394.4573(1)(c), F.S.
12
Id.
13
Id. BILL: SB 1394 Page 4
There are several essential elements, which make up a coordinated system of care, including:
14
Community interventions;
Case management;
Care coordination;
Outpatient services;
Residential services;
Hospital inpatient care;
Aftercare and post-discharge services;
Medication assisted treatment and medication management; and
Recovery support.
A coordinated system of care must include, but is not limited to, the following array of
services:
15
Prevention services;
Home-based services;
School-based services;
Family therapy;
Respite services;
Outpatient treatment;
Crisis stabilization;
Therapeutic foster care;
Residential treatment;
Inpatient hospitalization;
Care management;
Services for victims of sex offenses;
Transitional services; and
Trauma-informed services for children who have suffered sexual exploitation.
The Baker Act
The Florida Mental Health Act, commonly referred to as the Baker Act, was enacted in 1971 to
revise the state’s mental health commitment laws.
16
The Act includes legal procedures for mental
health examination and treatment, including voluntary and involuntary examinations. It,
additionally, protects the rights of all individuals examined or treated for mental illness in
Florida.
17
Receiving Facilities
Individuals in an acute mental or behavioral health crisis may require emergency treatment to
stabilize their condition. Emergency mental health examination and stabilization services may be
14
Section 394.4573(2), F.S.
15
Section 394.495(4), F.S.
16
The Baker Act is contained in Part I of Ch. 394, F.S.
17
Section 394.459, F.S. BILL: SB 1394 Page 5
provided on a voluntary or involuntary basis.
18
Individuals receiving services on an involuntary
basis must be taken to a facility that has been designated by DCF as a receiving facility.
Receiving facilities, often referred to as Baker Act receiving facilities, are public or private
facilities designated by DCF to receive and hold or refer, as appropriate, involuntary patients
under emergency conditions for mental health or substance abuse evaluation and to provide
treatment or transportation to the appropriate service provider.
19
A public receiving facility is a
facility that has contracted with a managing entity to provide mental health services to all
persons, regardless of their ability to pay, and is receiving state funds for such purpose.
20
Funds
appropriated for Baker Act services may only be used to pay for services diagnostically and
financially eligible persons, or those who are acutely ill, in need of mental health services, and
the least able to pay.
21
Crisis Stabilization Units
Crisis Stabilization Units (CSUs) are public receiving facilities that receive state funding and
provide a less intensive and less costly alternative to inpatient psychiatric hospitalization for
individuals presenting as acutely mentally ill. CSUs screen, assess, and admit individuals
brought to the unit under the Baker Act, as well as those individuals who voluntarily present
themselves, for short-term services. CSUs provide services 24 hours a day, seven days a week,
through a team of mental health professionals. The purpose of the CSU is to examine, stabilize,
and redirect people to the most appropriate and least restrictive treatment settings, consistent
with their mental health needs.
22
Individuals often enter the public mental health system through
CSUs.
Involuntary Examination
An involuntary examination is required if there is reason to believe that the person has a mental
illness and, because of his or her mental illness, has refused voluntary examination, is likely to
refuse to care for him or herself to the extent that such refusal threatens to cause substantial harm
to that person’s well-being, and such harm is unavoidable through the help of willing family
members or friends, or will cause serious bodily harm to him or herself or others in the near
future based on recent behavior.
23
An involuntary examination may be initiated by:
A court entering an ex parte order stating that a person appears to meet the criteria for
involuntary examination, based on sworn testimony;
24
or
A physician, clinical psychologist, psychiatric nurse, an autonomous advanced practice
registered nurse, mental health counselor, marriage and family therapist, or clinical social
worker executing a certificate stating that he or she has examined a person within the
preceding 48 hours and finds that the person appears to meet the criteria for involuntary
18
Section 394.4625 and 394.463, F.S.
19
Section 394.455(40), F.S. This term does not include a county jail.
20
Section 394.455(38), F.S.
21
R. 65E-5.400(2), F.A.C.
22
Section 394.875, F.S.
23
Section 394.463(1), F.S.
24
Section 394.463(2)(a)1., F.S. The order of the court must be made a part of the patient’s clinical record. BILL: SB 1394 Page 6
examination, including a statement of the professional’s observations supporting such
conclusion.
25
Unlike the discretion afforded courts and medical professionals, current law mandates that law
enforcement officers must initiate an involuntary examination of a person who appears to meet
the criteria by taking him or her into custody and delivering or having the person delivered to a
receiving facility for examination.
26
Under the Baker Act, a receiving facility has up to 72 hours to examine an involuntary patient.
27
During those 72 hours, an involuntary patient must be examined to determine if the criteria for
involuntary services are met.
28
Within that 72-hour examination period, one of the following
must happen:
29
The patient must be released, unless he or she is charged with a crime, in which case, law
enforcement will assume custody;
The patient must be released for voluntary outpatient treatment;
The patient, unless charged with a crime, must give express and informed consent to be
placed and admitted as a voluntary patient; or
A petition for involuntary placement must be filed in circuit court for involuntary outpatient
or inpatient treatment.
III. Effect of Proposed Changes:
Section 1 of the bill amends s. 394.495, F.S., to require the DCF to contract with MEs
throughout the state for community mobile support teams to place crisis counselors from
community mental health centers within local law enforcement agencies. These crisis counselors
are to conduct follow-up contacts with children, adolescents, and adults who have been
involuntarily committed under the Baker Act by a law enforcement officer.
The bill provides the purpose of the partnership is to reduce recidivism of law enforcement
Baker Act commitments, reduce the time burden of law enforcement completing follow-up work
with individuals after they have been subject to treatment under the Baker Act, provide
additional crisis intervention services, engage individuals in ongoing mental health care, and
provide a source for mental health crisis intervention other than law enforcement.
The bill requires crisis counselors to, at a minimum:
Reach out to individuals who may need additional mental health support following
commitment under the Baker Act.
Conduct home visits to assist individuals in connecting with appropriate aftercare services in
their community following their release from a mental health facility.
Provide support to the individuals during the transition period from their Baker Act release to
connection with aftercare services.
25
Section 394.463(2)(a)3., F.S. The report and certificate must be made a part of the patient’s clinical record.
26
Section 394.463(2)(a)2., F.S.
27
Section 394.463(2)(g), F.S.
28
Section 394.463(2)(f), F.S.
29
Section 394.463(2)(g), F.S. BILL: SB 1394 Page 7
Provide brief crisis counseling and assessment for additional needs.
The bill requires the managing entity to, at a minimum:
Collaborate with local law enforcement agencies in the planning, development, evaluation,
and selection processes.
Require that services are available seven days a week.
Require the provider to establish independent response protocols and memoranda of
understanding with local law enforcement agencies.
Section 2 of the bill provides an effective date of July 1, 2024.
IV. Constitutional Issues:
A. Municipality/County Mandates Restrictions:
None.
B. Public Records/Open Meetings Issues:
None.
C. Trust Funds Restrictions:
None.
D. State Tax or Fee Increases:
None.
E. Other Constitutional Issues:
None identified.
V. Fiscal Impact Statement:
A. Tax/Fee Issues:
None.
B. Private Sector Impact:
None.
C. Government Sector Impact:
There is an indeterminate, but likely significant, negative fiscal impact on state
government. The language would require contracts between MEs and existing or new
mobile response teams to employ a specific staff member to perform the duties detailed
within the bill. BILL: SB 1394 Page 8
VI. Technical Deficiencies:
None.
VII. Related Issues:
None.
VIII. Statutes Affected:
This bill substantially amends section 394.495 of the Florida Statutes.
IX. Additional Information:
A. Committee Substitute – Statement of Changes:
(Summarizing differences between the Committee Substitute and the prior version of the bill.)
None.
B. Amendments:
None.
This Senate Bill Analysis does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill’s introducer or the Florida Senate.