By: Coleman H.B. No. 4110
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to grants to establish or expand community collaboratives
for services to persons experiencing homelessness or mental illness
and county government planning for community collaboratives.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 539.002, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 539.002. GRANTS FOR ESTABLISHMENT AND EXPANSION OF
COMMUNITY COLLABORATIVES. (a) To the extent funds are
appropriated to the department for that purpose, the department
shall make grants to entities, including local governmental
entities, nonprofit community organizations, and faith-based
community organizations, to establish or expand community
collaboratives that bring the public and private sectors together
to provide services to persons experiencing homelessness and mental
illness. [The department may make a maximum of five grants, which
must be made in the most populous municipalities in this state that
are located in counties with a population of more than one million.]
In awarding grants, the department shall:
(1) give special consideration to entities
establishing a new collaborative[.];
(2) to collaboratives that serve multiple continues
counties with individual populations below 50,000.
(b) The department shall require each entity awarded a grant
under this section to:
(1) leverage additional funding from private sources
in an amount that is at least equal to the amount of the grant
awarded under this section; [and]
(2) provide evidence of significant coordination and
collaboration between the entity, local mental health authorities,
municipalities, local law enforcement agencies, and other
community stakeholders in establishing or expanding a community
collaborative funded by a grant awarded under this section; and
(3) provide evidence of a local law enforcement policy
to divert appropriate persons from jails or other detention
facilities to an entity affiliated with a community collaborative
for services.
SECTION 2. Chapter 539, Government Code, is amended by
adding Section 539.0051 to read as follows:
Sec. 539.0051. PLAN REQUIRED FOR CERTAIN COMMUNITY
COLLABORATIVES. (a) The governing body of a county shall develop
and make public a plan detailing:
(1) how local mental health authorities,
municipalities, local law enforcement agencies, and other
community stakeholders in the county could coordinate to establish
or expand a community collaborative to accomplish the goals of
Section 539.002;
(2) how entities in the county may leverage funding
from private sources to accomplish the goals of Section 539.002
through the formation or expansion of a community collaborative;
and
(3) how the formation or expansion of a community
collaborative could establish or support resources or services to
help local law enforcement agencies to divert persons who have been
arrested to appropriate mental health care.
(b) The governing body of a county in which an entity that
received a grant under Section 539.002 before September 1, 2017, is
located is not required to develop a plan under Subsection (a);
(c) Counties with a population under 50,000 may work with
multiple other counties that touch them that also have a population
under 50,000 to form a joint plan.
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.