Texas 2017 - 85th Regular

Texas House Bill HB3000 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	85R9041 GCB/LHC-D
2	2	By: Price H.B. No. 3000
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to the eligibility for medical assistance of certain
8	8	persons with mental illness confined in certain facilities, certain
9	9	duties of the Office of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial
10	10	System related to persons with mental illness, and the creation of a
11	11	grant program to reduce recidivism of persons with mental illness.
12	12	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
13	13	SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 32, Human Resources Code,
14	14	is amended by adding Section 32.0266 to read as follows:
15	15	Sec. 32.0266. SUSPENSION AND AUTOMATIC REINSTATEMENT OF
16	16	ELIGIBILITY FOR CERTAIN INMATES. (a) In this section, "department"
17	17	means the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
18	18	(b) The eligibility for medical assistance of an inmate in
19	19	the custody of the department is suspended during the period of
20	20	custody if the inmate is determined by a physician to be a person
21	21	with mental illness.
22	22	(c) An inmate whose eligibility for medical assistance is
23	23	suspended under this section is automatically reinstated on the
24	24	date the individual is released from the custody of the department.
25	25	Following the reinstatement, the individual whose eligibility was
26	26	suspended while an inmate in the custody of the department remains
27	27	eligible until the expiration of the period of months for which the
28	28	individual was certified as eligible, excluding the period during
29	29	which the individual's eligibility was suspended.
30	30	(d) The executive commissioner and the department by rule
31	31	shall adopt a memorandum of understanding that establishes the
32	32	respective responsibilities of the commission and the department to
33	33	ensure the suspension and automatic reinstatement of the
34	34	eligibility of an individual for medical assistance under this
35	35	section. The memorandum of understanding must establish methods
36	36	for:
37	37	(1) identifying inmates in the custody of the
38	38	department who have mental illness and who are eligible for medical
39	39	assistance; and
40	40	(2) coordinating the period of an inmate's
41	41	incarceration with the period of the inmate's suspension of
42	42	eligibility for medical assistance under this section to ensure
43	43	suspension under this section begins on the date the department's
44	44	custody of the individual begins, and reinstatement under this
45	45	section occurs on the date the individual is released from the
46	46	department's custody.
47	47	SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 72, Government Code, is
48	48	amended by adding Section 72.032 to read as follows:
49	49	Sec. 72.032. BEST PRACTICES EDUCATION. The director shall
50	50	make available to courts information concerning best practices for
51	51	addressing the needs of persons with mental illness in the court
52	52	system, including the use of the preferred terms and phrases
53	53	provided by Section 392.002.
54	54	SECTION 3. Chapter 121, Government Code, is amended by
55	55	adding Section 121.003 to read as follows:
56	56	Sec. 121.003. SPECIALTY COURTS REPORT. (a) In this
57	57	section, "office" means the Office of Court Administration of the
58	58	Texas Judicial System.
59	59	(b) For the period beginning September 1, 2017, and ending
60	60	September 1, 2018, the office shall collect information from
61	61	specialty courts in this state regarding outcomes of participants
62	62	in those specialty courts who are persons with mental illness,
63	63	including recidivism rates of those participants, and other
64	64	relevant information as determined by the office.
65	65	(c) Not later than December 1, 2018, the office shall submit
66	66	to the legislature a report containing and evaluating the
67	67	information collected under Subsection (a).
68	68	(d) This section expires September 1, 2019.
69	69	SECTION 4. Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is
70	70	amended by adding Section 531.0993 to read as follows:
71	71	Sec. 531.0993. GRANT PROGRAM TO REDUCE RECIDIVISM, ARREST,
72	72	AND INCARCERATION AMONG INDIVIDUALS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS AND TO
73	73	REDUCE WAIT TIME FOR FORENSIC COMMITMENT. (a) For purposes of this
74	74	section, "low-income household" means a household with a total
75	75	income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty guideline.
76	76	(b) The commission shall establish a program to award grants
77	77	to county-based community collaboratives for the purposes of
78	78	reducing:
79	79	(1) recidivism by, the frequency of arrests of, and
80	80	incarceration of persons with mental illness; and
81	81	(2) the total waiting time for forensic commitment of
82	82	persons with mental illness to a state hospital.
83	83	(c) A community collaborative may petition the commission
84	84	for a grant under the program only if the collaborative includes a
85	85	county, a local mental health authority that operates in the
86	86	county, and each hospital district, if any, located in the county.
87	87	A community collaborative may include other local entities
88	88	designated by the collaborative's members.
89	89	(d) The commission shall condition each grant awarded to a
90	90	community collaborative under this section on the collaborative
91	91	providing matching funds from non-state sources in a total amount
92	92	at least equal to the awarded grant amount. To raise matching
93	93	funds, a collaborative may seek and receive gifts, grants, or
94	94	donations from any person.
95	95	(e) For each state fiscal year for which a community
96	96	collaborative seeks a grant, the collaborative must submit a
97	97	petition to the commission not later than the first day of that
98	98	fiscal year. The community collaborative must include with a
99	99	petition:
100	100	(1) a statement indicating the amount of matching
101	101	funds the collaborative is able to provide; and
102	102	(2) a plan that:
103	103	(A) is endorsed by each of the collaborative's
104	104	member entities;
105	105	(B) identifies a target population;
106	106	(C) describes how the grant money and matching
107	107	funds will be used;
108	108	(D) includes outcome measures to evaluate the
109	109	success of the plan; and
110	110	(E) describes how the success of the plan in
111	111	accordance with the outcome measures would further the state's
112	112	interest in the grant program's purposes.
113	113	(f) The commission must review and approve plans submitted
114	114	with a petition under Subsection (e) before the commission awards a
115	115	grant under this section. If the commission determines that a plan
116	116	includes insufficient outcome measures, the commission may make the
117	117	necessary changes to the plan to establish appropriate outcome
118	118	measures. The commission may not make other changes to a plan.
119	119	(g) For each petition timely submitted and containing the
120	120	statement and plan required by Subsection (e), the commission shall
121	121	estimate the number of cases of serious mental illness in
122	122	low-income households located in the county included in the
123	123	community collaborative that submitted the petition.
124	124	(h) For each state fiscal year, the commission shall
125	125	determine an amount of grant money available for the program on a
126	126	per-case basis by dividing the total amount of money appropriated
127	127	to the commission for the purpose of awarding grants under this
128	128	section for that fiscal year by the total number of the cases
129	129	estimated under Subsection (g) for all collaboratives to which the
130	130	commission intends to award grants under this section.
131	131	(i) The commission shall make available to a community
132	132	collaborative awarded a grant under this section a grant in an
133	133	amount equal to the lesser of:
134	134	(1) the amount determined by multiplying the per-case
135	135	amount determined under Subsection (h) by the number of cases of
136	136	serious mental illness in low-income households estimated for that
137	137	collaborative under Subsection (g); or
138	138	(2) the collaborative's available matching funds.
139	139	(j) Acceptable uses for the grant money and matching funds
140	140	include:
141	141	(1) the continuation of a mental health jail diversion
142	142	program;
143	143	(2) the establishment or expansion of a mental health
144	144	jail diversion program;
145	145	(3) the establishment of alternatives to competency
146	146	restoration in a state hospital, including outpatient competency
147	147	restoration, inpatient competency restoration in a setting other
148	148	than a state hospital, or jail-based competency restoration;
149	149	(4) the provision of assertive community treatment or
150	150	forensic assertive community treatment with an outreach component;
151	151	(5) the provision of intensive mental health services
152	152	and substance abuse treatment not readily available in the county;
153	153	(6) the provision of continuity of care services for
154	154	an individual being released from a state hospital;
155	155	(7) the establishment of interdisciplinary rapid
156	156	response teams to reduce law enforcement's involvement with mental
157	157	health emergencies; and
158	158	(8) the provision of local community hospital, crisis,
159	159	respite, or residential beds.
160	160	(k) Not later than the 90th day after the last day of the
161	161	state fiscal year for which the commission distributes a grant
162	162	under this section, each community collaborative that receives a
163	163	grant shall prepare and submit a report describing the effect of the
164	164	grant money and matching funds in achieving the standard defined by
165	165	the outcome measures in the plan submitted under Subsection (e).
166	166	(l) The commission may make inspections of the operation and
167	167	provision of mental health services provided by a community
168	168	collaborative to ensure state money appropriated for the grant
169	169	program is used effectively.
170	170	SECTION 5. The changes in law made by this Act apply to an
171	171	individual who is released from a facility or other setting
172	172	described by Section 32.0266, Human Resources Code, as added by
173	173	this Act, on or after the effective date of this Act, regardless of
174	174	the date the individual was:
175	175	(1) confined in a facility or other setting described
176	176	by Section 32.0266, Human Resources Code, as added by this Act; or
177	177	(2) determined eligible for medical assistance under
178	178	Chapter 32, Human Resources Code.
179	179	SECTION 6. If before implementing any provision of Section
180	180	32.0266, Human Resources Code, as added by this Act, a state agency
181	181	determines that a waiver or authorization from a federal agency is
182	182	necessary for implementation of that provision, the agency affected
183	183	by the provision shall request the waiver or authorization and may
184	184	delay implementing that provision until the waiver or authorization
185	185	is granted.
186	186	SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.