By: Price, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Schwertner) H.B. No. 13
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 18, 2017;
April 24, 2017, read first time and referred to Committee on Health &
Human Services; May 17, 2017, reported adversely, with favorable
Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0;
May 17, 2017, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 13 By: Schwertner
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 ensure that each grant recipient
obtains or secures contributions to match awarded grants in amounts
of money or other consideration as required by Subsection (h). 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.
(c) 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.
(d) 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.
(e) 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 whether the services proposed in the
application or proposal would duplicate services already available
in the applicant's service area;
(3) address the possibility of and method for making
multiple awards; and
(4) include other factors that the executive
commissioner considers relevant.
(f) 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 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.
(g) The commission shall condition each grant awarded to a
recipient under the program on the recipient obtaining or securing
matching funds from non-state sources in amounts of money or other
consideration as required by Subsection (h).
(h) A community that receives a grant under this section is
required to leverage funds in an amount:
(1) equal to 50 percent of the grant amount if the
community mental health program is located in a county with a
population of less than 250,000;
(2) equal to 100 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
(3) 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.
(i) Except as provided by Subsection (j), from money
appropriated to the commission for each fiscal year to implement
this section, the commission shall reserve 40 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.
(j) 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 (i).
(k) 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.
(l) The executive commissioner shall adopt any rules
necessary to implement the matching grant program under this
section.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect only if a specific
appropriation for the implementation of the Act is provided in a
general appropriations act of the 85th Legislature.
SECTION 3. 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.
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