Bill Text: TX HB1644 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to a study on mental health professionals or mental health response teams responding to a behavioral health-related emergency call.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-07 - Referred to Public Health [HB1644 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB1644-Introduced.html
| 88R3375 EAS-D | ||
| By: Romero, Jr. | H.B. No. 1644 | |
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| relating to a study on mental health professionals or mental health | ||
| response teams responding to a behavioral health-related emergency | ||
| call. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. (a) In this Act: | ||
| (1) "Commission" means the Health and Human Services | ||
| Commission. | ||
| (2) "Law enforcement agency" means an office, | ||
| department, or other division of a political subdivision that is | ||
| authorized to employ a law enforcement officer. | ||
| (3) "Law enforcement officer" means a municipal police | ||
| officer, sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable, deputy constable, | ||
| marshal, or deputy marshal. | ||
| (4) "Mental health professional" does not include a | ||
| law enforcement officer certified as a special officer for | ||
| offenders with mental impairments under Section 1701.404, | ||
| Occupations Code. | ||
| (5) "Mental health response team" includes: | ||
| (A) a mobile crisis outreach team; | ||
| (B) a mental health response model that serves as | ||
| an alternative to traditional law enforcement and employs mental | ||
| health professionals, whether connected to or independent of a law | ||
| enforcement agency; and | ||
| (C) a community mental health crisis call center. | ||
| (b) The commission shall conduct a study to evaluate the | ||
| availability, outcomes, and efficacy of using mental health | ||
| response teams and mental health professionals to assist in | ||
| reducing the number of incarcerations of persons with: | ||
| (1) mental illness; | ||
| (2) substance use disorders; or | ||
| (3) intellectual or developmental disabilities. | ||
| (c) In conducting the study, the commission shall evaluate | ||
| the types of behavioral health-related emergency calls or other | ||
| community interactions that have been safely resolved wholly or | ||
| partly by a mental health professional or mental health response | ||
| team. Emergency calls and community interactions evaluated under | ||
| this subsection include circumstances in which a mental health | ||
| professional or mental health response team responds to an | ||
| emergency call in person or by telephone and when a professional or | ||
| team responds to a behavioral health-related emergency call with a | ||
| law enforcement officer. A safely resolved situation includes: | ||
| (1) preventing the incarceration of the person | ||
| experiencing the behavioral health crisis; | ||
| (2) de-escalating the situation; and | ||
| (3) receiving positive feedback from the community. | ||
| (d) In conducting the study, the commission shall evaluate | ||
| community-based outcomes of behavioral health-related emergency | ||
| calls to which a mental health professional or a mental health | ||
| response team responds. A community-based outcome may include: | ||
| (1) prevention of persons with mental illness, | ||
| substance use disorders, or intellectual or developmental | ||
| disabilities from entering the criminal justice system; | ||
| (2) an increase in referrals to community resources or | ||
| treatment options for community members with mental illness or | ||
| substance use disorders; | ||
| (3) an increase in referrals described by Subdivision | ||
| (2) that result in responsive short-term treatment or long-term | ||
| case management; and | ||
| (4) an impact on the number of referrals to resources | ||
| in the community serving persons with intellectual or developmental | ||
| disabilities. | ||
| (e) The information described by Subsection (d) must be | ||
| disaggregated by age, race, ethnicity, gender, veteran status, | ||
| income level, and whether the person presented with a mental | ||
| illness, a substance use disorder, or an intellectual or | ||
| developmental disability. | ||
| (f) In conducting the study, the commission shall include an | ||
| assessment of whether the information suggests that municipalities | ||
| would benefit from mental health response teams assisting | ||
| traditional law enforcement officers in efforts to: | ||
| (1) reduce the incarceration rates of persons with | ||
| mental illness, substance use disorders, or intellectual or | ||
| developmental disabilities; | ||
| (2) increase the number of referrals to community | ||
| resources and treatment for persons described by Subdivision (1); | ||
| (3) reduce the use of force when responding to | ||
| emergency calls involving persons described by Subdivision (1); and | ||
| (4) gain understanding about persons described by | ||
| Subdivision (1). | ||
| (g) In conducting the study, the commission shall evaluate | ||
| the fiscal and staffing implications of a law enforcement agency | ||
| using a mental health response team to respond remotely to | ||
| emergency calls. | ||
| (h) In conducting the study, the commission shall evaluate | ||
| the impact of the following funding sources on establishing mental | ||
| health response teams across this state, particularly the impact on | ||
| the staffing and maintenance of those teams: | ||
| (1) funding from a waiver under Section 1115 of the | ||
| Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Section 1315); | ||
| (2) money allocated by Chapter 528 (S.B. 292), Acts of | ||
| the 85th Legislature, Regular Session, 2017; or | ||
| (3) funding implemented by municipalities. | ||
| (i) The commission shall gather information for the study | ||
| from: | ||
| (1) each county in this state; | ||
| (2) each local mental health authority in this state; | ||
| and | ||
| (3) each municipality in this state with a population | ||
| greater than 100,000. | ||
| (j) Unless a law enforcement agency has not used mental | ||
| health response teams or mental health professionals for two years | ||
| or more, information collected for the study must include at least | ||
| two years of information regarding the use of mental health | ||
| response teams by the law enforcement agency. | ||
| (k) Not later than December 1, 2024, the commission shall | ||
| prepare and submit to the governor and the legislature a written | ||
| report containing the results of the study and any recommendations | ||
| for legislative or other action, including any additional insights | ||
| about the operation and outcomes of mental health response teams | ||
| that the commission considers significant. The commission shall | ||
| post the report on the commission's Internet website. | ||
| SECTION 2. This Act expires September 1, 2025. | ||
| SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023. | ||
