By: Price, Turner, White, Clardy, Moody, H.B. No. 13
et al.
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the creation of a matching grant program to support
community mental health programs for individuals experiencing
mental illness.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 531.0999 to read as follows:
Sec. 531.0999. GRANT PROGRAM FOR MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES.
(a) To the extent money is appropriated to the commission for that
purpose, the commission shall establish a matching grant program
for the purpose of supporting community mental health programs
providing services and treatment to individuals experiencing
mental illness.
(b) The commission shall enter into an agreement with a
qualified nonprofit or other private entity to serve as the
administrator of the matching grant program. The duties of the
administrator must include assisting, supporting, and advising the
commission in fulfilling the commission's responsibilities with
respect to the program. The administrator may advise the
commission on:
(1) designing, developing, implementing, and managing
the program;
(2) determining criteria for local community
collaboration and the types of services and deliveries eligible for
grants;
(3) eligibility requirements for grant recipients;
(4) designing and managing the competitive bidding
processes for applications or proposals and the evaluation and
selection of grant recipients;
(5) contractual requirements for grant recipients;
(6) grant requisites and mechanisms;
(7) roles and responsibilities of grant recipients;
(8) reporting requirements for grant recipients;
(9) support and technical capabilities;
(10) timelines and deadlines for the program;
(11) evaluation of the program and grant recipients;
and
(12) requirements for reporting on the program to
policy makers.
(c) The administrator of the matching grant program shall
ensure that each grant recipient obtains or secures contributions
to match awarded grants in amounts of money or other consideration
as required by Subsection (j). The money or other consideration
obtained or secured by the recipient, as determined by the
executive commissioner, may include cash or in-kind contributions
from any person but may not include money from state or federal
funds.
(d) Money appropriated to or obtained by the commission for
the matching grant program must be disbursed directly to grant
recipients by the commission, as authorized by the executive
commissioner. Money or other consideration obtained or secured by
the administrator must be disbursed or provided directly to grant
recipients by the administrator, private contributors, or local
governments, as authorized by the executive commissioner.
(e) A grant awarded under the matching grant program and
matching amounts must be used for the sole purpose of supporting
community programs that provide mental health care services and
treatment to individuals with a mental illness and that coordinate
mental health care services for individuals with a mental illness
with other transition support services.
(f) The administrator must obtain the commission's approval
of the eligibility requirements for grant recipients, the types of
services and deliveries eligible for grants, and the requirements
for reporting as developed by the administrator before the
commission awards a grant under the matching grant program.
(g) The commission shall select grant recipients based on
the submission of applications or proposals by nonprofit and
governmental entities. The executive commissioner shall develop
criteria for the evaluation of those applications or proposals and
the selection of grant recipients. The selection criteria must:
(1) evaluate and score:
(A) fiscal controls for the project;
(B) project effectiveness;
(C) project cost; and
(D) an applicant's previous experience with
grants and contracts;
(2) address the possibility of and method for making
multiple awards; and
(3) include other factors that the executive
commissioner considers relevant.
(h) A nonprofit or governmental entity that applies for a
grant under this section must notify each local mental health
authority with a local service area that is covered wholly or partly
by the entity's proposed community mental health program and must
provide in the entity's application a letter of support from each
local mental health authority with a local service area that is
covered wholly or partly by the entity's proposed community mental
health program. The commission and the administrator shall
consider a local mental health authority's written input before
awarding a grant under this section and may take any
recommendations made by the authority.
(i) The commission shall condition each grant awarded to a
recipient under the program on the administrator ensuring that the
recipient has obtained or secured matching funds from non-state
sources in amounts of money or other consideration as required by
Subsection (j).
(j) A community that receives a grant under this section is
required to leverage funds in an amount:
(1) equal to 100 percent of the grant amount if the
community mental health program is located in a county with a
population of less than 125,000;
(2) equal to 115 percent of the grant amount if the
community mental health program is located in a county with a
population of at least 125,000 and not greater than 250,000;
(3) equal to 125 percent of the grant amount if the
community mental health program is located in a county with a
population of at least 250,000 and not greater than 500,000;
(4) equal to 150 percent of the grant amount if the
community mental health program is located in a county with a
population of at least 500,000 and not greater than one million;
(5) equal to 167 percent of the grant amount if the
community mental health program is located in a county with a
population greater than one million; and
(6) equal to the percentage of the grant amount
otherwise required by this subsection for the largest county in
which a community mental health program is located if the community
mental health program is located in more than one county.
(k) Except as provided by Subsection (l), from money
appropriated to the commission for each fiscal year to implement
this section, the commission shall reserve:
(1) 25 percent of that total to be awarded only as
grants to a community mental health program located in a county with
a population not greater than 250,000; and
(2) five percent of that total to be awarded only as
grants to a community mental health program located in a county with
a population not greater than 125,000.
(l) To the extent money appropriated to the commission to
implement this section for a fiscal year remains available to the
commission after the commission selects grant recipients for the
fiscal year, the commission shall make grants available using the
money remaining for the fiscal year through a competitive request
for proposal process, without regard to the limitation provided by
Subsection (k).
(m) Not later than December 1 of each calendar year, the
executive commissioner shall submit to the governor, the lieutenant
governor, and each member of the legislature a report evaluating
the success of the matching grant program created by this section.
(n) The executive commissioner shall adopt any rules
necessary to implement the matching grant program under this
section.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2017.