Bill Text: TX SB292 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to the creation of grant programs to reduce recidivism, arrest, and incarceration of individuals with mental illness.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-5)
Status: (Passed) 2017-06-09 - Effective on 9/1/17 [SB292 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-SB292-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Relating to the creation of grant programs to reduce recidivism, arrest, and incarceration of individuals with mental illness.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-5)
Status: (Passed) 2017-06-09 - Effective on 9/1/17 [SB292 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-SB292-Introduced.html
85R2695 SMT-D | ||
By: Huffman, Nelson, Schwertner | S.B. No. 292 |
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relating to the creation of a grant program 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) For purposes of this | ||
section, "low-income household" means a household with a total | ||
income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty guideline. | ||
(b) Using money appropriated to the commission for that | ||
purpose, the commission shall make 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. | ||
(c) A community collaborative is eligible to receive a grant | ||
under this section 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. | ||
(d) The commission shall condition each grant provided to a | ||
community collaborative under this section on the collaborative | ||
providing matching funds from non-state sources in a total amount | ||
at least equal to the awarded grant amount. To raise matching | ||
funds, a collaborative may seek and receive gifts, grants, or | ||
donations from any person. | ||
(e) The commission shall estimate the number of cases of | ||
serious mental illness in low-income households located in each of | ||
the 10 most populous counties in this state. For the purposes of | ||
distributing grants under this section to community collaboratives | ||
established in those 10 counties, for each fiscal year the | ||
commission shall determine an amount of grant money available on a | ||
per-case basis by dividing the total amount of money appropriated | ||
to the commission for the purpose of making grants under this | ||
section in that year by the estimated total number of cases of | ||
serious mental illness in low-income households located in those 10 | ||
counties. | ||
(f) The commission shall make available to a community | ||
collaborative established in each of the 10 most populous counties | ||
in this state a grant in an amount equal to the lesser of: | ||
(1) an amount determined by multiplying the per-case | ||
amount determined under Subsection (e) by the estimated number of | ||
cases of serious mental illness in low-income households in that | ||
county; and | ||
(2) an amount equal to the collaborative's available | ||
matching funds. | ||
(g) To the extent appropriated money remains available to | ||
the commission for that purpose after the commission awards grants | ||
under Subsection (f), the commission shall make available to | ||
community collaboratives established in other counties in this | ||
state grants through a competitive request for proposal process. | ||
For purposes of awarding a grant under this subsection, a | ||
collaborative may include adjacent counties if, for each member | ||
county, the collaborative's members include a local mental health | ||
authority that operates in the county and each hospital district, | ||
if any, located in the county. A grant awarded under this | ||
subsection may not exceed an amount equal to the lesser of: | ||
(1) an amount determined by multiplying the per-case | ||
amount determined under Subsection (e) by the estimated number of | ||
cases of serious mental illness in low-income households in the | ||
county or counties; and | ||
(2) an amount equal to the collaborative's available | ||
matching funds. | ||
(h) The community collaboratives established in each of the | ||
10 most populous counties in this state shall submit to the | ||
commission a plan that: | ||
(1) is endorsed by each of the collaborative's member | ||
entities; | ||
(2) identifies a target population; | ||
(3) describes how the grant money and matching funds | ||
will be used; | ||
(4) includes outcome measures to evaluate the success | ||
of the plan; and | ||
(5) 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. | ||
(i) A community collaborative that applies for a grant under | ||
Subsection (g) must submit to the commission a plan as described by | ||
Subsection (h). The commission shall consider the submitted plan | ||
together with any other relevant information in awarding a grant | ||
under Subsection (g). | ||
(j) The commission must review and approve plans submitted | ||
under Subsection (h) or (i) before the commission distributes a | ||
grant under Subsection (f) or (g). If the commission determines | ||
that a plan includes insufficient outcome measures, the commission | ||
may make the necessary changes to the plan to establish appropriate | ||
outcome measures. The commission may not make other changes to a | ||
plan submitted under Subsection (h) or (i). | ||
(k) 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. | ||
(l) Not later than December 31 of each 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 (h) or (i). | ||
(m) 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. | ||
(n) The commission shall enter into an agreement with a | ||
qualified nonprofit or private entity to serve as the administrator | ||
of the grant program at no cost to the state. The administrator | ||
shall assist, support, and advise the commission in fulfilling the | ||
commission's responsibilities with respect to the grant program. | ||
The administrator may advise the commission on: | ||
(1) design, development, implementation, and | ||
management of the program; | ||
(2) eligibility requirements for grant recipients; | ||
(3) design and management of the competitive bidding | ||
processes for applications or proposals and the evaluation and | ||
selection of grant recipients; | ||
(4) grant requirements and mechanisms; | ||
(5) roles and responsibilities of grant recipients; | ||
(6) reporting requirements for grant recipients; | ||
(7) support and technical capabilities; | ||
(8) timelines and deadlines for the program; | ||
(9) evaluation of the program and grant recipients; | ||
(10) requirements for reporting on the program to | ||
policy makers; and | ||
(11) estimation of the number of cases of serious | ||
mental illness in low-income households in each county. | ||
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017. |