S.B. No. 292
AN ACT
relating to the creation of grant programs to reduce recidivism,
arrest, and incarceration of individuals with 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 531.0993 to read as follows:
Sec. 531.0993. GRANT PROGRAM TO REDUCE RECIDIVISM, ARREST,
AND INCARCERATION AMONG INDIVIDUALS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS AND TO
REDUCE WAIT TIME FOR FORENSIC COMMITMENT. (a) The commission
shall establish a program to provide grants to county-based
community collaboratives for the purposes of reducing:
(1) recidivism by, the frequency of arrests of, and
incarceration of persons with mental illness; and
(2) the total waiting time for forensic commitment of
persons with mental illness to a state hospital.
(b) A community collaborative may petition the commission
for a grant under the program only if the collaborative includes a
county, a local mental health authority that operates in the
county, and each hospital district, if any, located in the county.
A community collaborative may include other local entities
designated by the collaborative's members.
(c) The commission shall condition each grant provided to a
community collaborative under this section on the collaborative
providing funds from non-state sources in a total amount at least
equal to:
(1) 50 percent of the grant amount if the
collaborative includes a county with a population of less than
250,000;
(2) 100 percent of the grant amount if the
collaborative includes a county with a population of 250,000 or
more; and
(3) the percentage of the grant amount otherwise
required by this subsection for the largest county included in the
collaborative, if the collaborative includes more than one county.
(c-1) To raise the required non-state sourced funds, a
collaborative may seek and receive gifts, grants, or donations from
any person.
(c-2) Beginning on or after September 1, 2018, from money
appropriated to the commission for each fiscal year to implement
this section, the commission shall reserve at least 20 percent of
that total to be awarded only as grants to a community collaborative
that includes a county with a population of less than 250,000.
(d) For each state fiscal year for which a community
collaborative seeks a grant, the collaborative must submit a
petition to the commission not later than the 30th day of that
fiscal year. The community collaborative must include with a
petition:
(1) a statement indicating the amount of funds from
non-state sources the collaborative is able to provide; and
(2) a plan that:
(A) is endorsed by each of the collaborative's
member entities;
(B) identifies a target population;
(C) describes how the grant money and funds from
non-state sources will be used;
(D) includes outcome measures to evaluate the
success of the plan; and
(E) describes how the success of the plan in
accordance with the outcome measures would further the state's
interest in the grant program's purposes.
(e) The commission must review plans submitted with a
petition under Subsection (d) before the commission provides a
grant under this section. The commission must fulfill the
commission's requirements under this subsection not later than the
60th day of each fiscal year.
(f) Acceptable uses for the grant money and matching funds
include:
(1) the continuation of a mental health jail diversion
program;
(2) the establishment or expansion of a mental health
jail diversion program;
(3) the establishment of alternatives to competency
restoration in a state hospital, including outpatient competency
restoration, inpatient competency restoration in a setting other
than a state hospital, or jail-based competency restoration;
(4) the provision of assertive community treatment or
forensic assertive community treatment with an outreach component;
(5) the provision of intensive mental health services
and substance abuse treatment not readily available in the county;
(6) the provision of continuity of care services for
an individual being released from a state hospital;
(7) the establishment of interdisciplinary rapid
response teams to reduce law enforcement's involvement with mental
health emergencies; and
(8) the provision of local community hospital, crisis,
respite, or residential beds.
(f-1) Beginning on or after September 1, 2018, to the extent
money appropriated to the commission for a fiscal year to implement
this section 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
(c-2).
(g) Not later than the 90th day after the last day of the
state fiscal year for which the commission distributes a grant
under this section, each community collaborative that receives a
grant shall prepare and submit a report describing the effect of the
grant money and matching funds in achieving the standard defined by
the outcome measures in the plan submitted under Subsection (d).
(h) The commission may make inspections of the operation and
provision of mental health services provided by a community
collaborative to ensure state money appropriated for the grant
program is used effectively.
(i) The commission may not award a grant under this section
for a fiscal year to a community collaborative that includes a
county with a population greater than four million if the
legislature appropriates money for a mental health jail diversion
program in the county for that fiscal year.
(j) Notwithstanding any other provision in this section,
the commission may award a grant under this section for the state
fiscal year beginning on September 1, 2017, only to a community
collaborative that includes a county with a population of 250,000
or more. This subsection expires on August 31, 2018.
SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 531.09935 to read as follows:
Sec. 531.09935. GRANT PROGRAM TO REDUCE RECIDIVISM, ARREST,
AND INCARCERATION AMONG INDIVIDUALS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS AND TO
REDUCE WAIT TIME FOR FORENSIC COMMITMENT IN MOST POPULOUS COUNTY.
(a) The commission shall establish a program to provide a grant to
a county-based community collaborative in the most populous county
in this state for the purposes of reducing:
(1) recidivism by, the frequency of arrests of, and
incarceration of persons with mental illness; and
(2) the total waiting time for forensic commitment of
persons with mental illness to a state hospital.
(b) The community collaborative may receive a grant under
the program only if the collaborative includes the county, a local
mental health authority that operates in the county, and each
hospital district located in the county. A community collaborative
may include other local entities designated by the collaborative's
members.
(c) Not later than the 30th day of each fiscal year, the
commission shall make available to the community collaborative
established in the county described by Subsection (a) a grant in an
amount equal to the lesser of:
(1) the amount appropriated to the commission for that
fiscal year for a mental health jail diversion pilot program in that
county; or
(2) the collaborative's available matching funds.
(d) The commission shall condition a grant provided to the
community collaborative under this section on the collaborative
providing funds from non-state sources in a total amount at least
equal to the grant amount.
(e) To raise the required non-state sourced funds, the
collaborative may seek and receive gifts, grants, or donations from
any person.
(f) Acceptable uses for the grant money and matching funds
include:
(1) the continuation of a mental health jail diversion
program;
(2) the establishment or expansion of a mental health
jail diversion program;
(3) the establishment of alternatives to competency
restoration in a state hospital, including outpatient competency
restoration, inpatient competency restoration in a setting other
than a state hospital, or jail-based competency restoration;
(4) the provision of assertive community treatment or
forensic assertive community treatment with an outreach component;
(5) the provision of intensive mental health services
and substance abuse treatment not readily available in the county;
(6) the provision of continuity of care services for
an individual being released from a state hospital;
(7) the establishment of interdisciplinary rapid
response teams to reduce law enforcement's involvement with mental
health emergencies; and
(8) the provision of local community hospital, crisis,
respite, or residential beds.
(g) Not later than the 90th day after the last day of the
state fiscal year for which the commission distributes a grant
under this section, the community collaborative shall prepare and
submit a report describing the effect of the grant money and
matching funds in fulfilling the purpose described by Subsection
(a).
(h) The commission may make inspections of the operation and
provision of mental health services provided by the community
collaborative to ensure state money appropriated for the grant
program is used effectively.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 292 passed the Senate on
April 20, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0; and that
the Senate concurred in House amendments on May 25, 2017, by the
following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 292 passed the House, with
amendments, on May 23, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 138,
Nays 5, one present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor