Bill Text: TX SB421 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to the Texas System of Care and the development of local mental health systems of care for certain children.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Passed) 2013-06-14 - Effective on 9/1/13 [SB421 Detail]

Download: Texas-2013-SB421-Introduced.html
  83R4650 AED-F
 
  By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 421
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the Texas System of Care and the development of local
  mental health systems of care for certain children.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  The heading to Subchapter G-1, Chapter 531,
  Government Code, is amended to read as follows:
  SUBCHAPTER G-1. DEVELOPING LOCAL MENTAL HEALTH [CARE] SYSTEMS OF
  CARE FOR CERTAIN CHILDREN
         SECTION 2.  Section 531.251, Government Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 531.251.  TEXAS SYSTEM OF CARE [PILOT PROJECT]
  CONSORTIUM[; EXPANSION PLAN]. (a) The commission shall form a
  consortium to have responsibility [develop criteria] for and
  oversight over a state system of care [and implement the expansion
  of the Texas Integrated Funding Initiative pilot project and] to
  develop local mental health systems of care [systems] in
  communities for minors who are receiving residential mental health
  services or inpatient mental health hospitalization or who are at
  risk of being removed from the minor's home and placed in a more
  restrictive environment to receive mental health services,
  including an inpatient mental health hospital, a residential
  treatment facility, or a facility or program operated by the
  Department of Family and Protective Services or an agency that is
  part of the juvenile justice system [placement to receive mental
  health services].
         (a-1)  The consortium must include:
               (1)  representatives of the [Texas] Department of State
  [Mental] Health Services [and Mental Retardation], Department of
  Family and Protective [and Regulatory] Services, Health and Human
  Services Commission's medicaid program, Texas Education Agency,
  [Texas Youth Commission,] Texas Juvenile Justice Department
  [Probation Commission], and Texas Correctional Office on Offenders
  with Medical or Mental Impairments;
               (2)  one youth or young adult who has a serious
  emotional disturbance and has received mental health services and
  supports; or
               (3)  a family member of a youth or young adult described
  by Subdivision (1) [Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse and an
  equal number of family advocates].
         (a-2)  The consortium may coordinate with the Children's
  Policy Council for the purposes of including the representation
  required by Subsections (a-1)(2) and (3).
         (b)  The commission and the consortium shall:
               (1)  maintain [develop] a comprehensive plan [model and
  guidelines] for the delivery of mental health services and supports
  [support] to a minor and a minor's family using a system of care
  framework [, initiated before the person's 18th birthday],
  including best practices in the financing, administration,
  governance, and delivery of those services;
               (2)  implement strategies [establish a plan] to expand
  the use of system of care practices [Texas Integrated Funding
  Initiative so that the initiative may operate] in the planning and
  delivery of services throughout the state [up to six communities];
  [and]
               (3)  identify appropriate local, [sources of] state,
  and federal funding sources to finance infrastructure and mental
  health services needed to support state and local system of care
  efforts; and
               (4)  develop an evaluation system to measure outcomes
  of state and local system of care efforts [under the initiative from
  a central fund for expansion communities].
         (b-1)  Not later than November 1 of each even-numbered year,
  the consortium shall submit a report to the legislature and the
  Council on Children and Families that contains an evaluation of the
  outcomes of the Texas System of Care and recommendations on
  strengthening state policies and practices that support local
  systems of care, including recommendations relating to:
               (1)  methods to increase access to effective and
  coordinated services and supports;
               (2)  methods to increase community capacity to
  implement local systems of care through training and technical
  assistance;
               (3)  use of cross-system performance and outcome data
  to make informed decisions at individual and system levels; and
               (4)  strategies to maximize public and private funding
  at the local, state, and federal levels.
         SECTION 3.  Section 531.252, Government Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 531.252.  PROPOSALS FOR LOCAL SYSTEM OF CARE GRANTS
  [EXPANSION COMMUNITIES]. (a) The commission by rule may [shall]
  establish a request-for-proposal process to select [expansion]
  communities to implement a local system of care as funding is
  available [participate in the initiative].
         (b)  The commission and the consortium shall develop
  criteria to evaluate proposals for selecting [expansion]
  communities [to participate in the expanded initiative]. The
  criteria must:
               (1)  [reflect the underlying principles of the Texas
  Integrated Funding Initiative;
               [(2)]  emphasize services that are provided in the
  community, strengths-based, culturally and linguistically
  competent, family-driven [family-centered], and youth-guided
  [seamless];
               (2) [(3)]  identify populations to be served under the
  proposals;
               (3) [(4)]  establish [for the expansion communities]
  service outcome goals for the grant communities;
               (4)  require demonstration of the capacity to collect
  data related to minors who are receiving [residential] mental
  health services in residential facilities or inpatient mental
  health hospitals or who are at risk of residential placement to
  receive mental health services or inpatient mental health
  hospitalization, including data relating to whether the system of
  care is:
                     (A)  decreasing incidents of abuse or neglect of
  the minors;
                     (B)  reducing recidivism rates of juvenile
  offenders;
                     (C)  increasing school attendance and progress of
  the minors;
                     (D)  reducing the rate of placement of the minors
  in residential treatment or inpatient mental health
  hospitalization;
                     (E)  increasing the rate of reunification of the
  minors with their families;
                     (F)  improving the emotional, behavioral, and
  social adjustment of the minors; and
                     (G)  improving the stability of placements of the
  minors;
               (5)  provide for locations of participating
  communities in urban, suburban, and rural settings; and
               (6)  specify information that must be provided in a
  proposal for a community, including:
                     (A)  information on the costs of the activities
  proposed; and
                     (B)  the characteristics of minors in the
  community who are in residential care or inpatient mental health
  hospitals for mental health services or who are at risk of being
  placed in residential care or inpatient mental health hospitals to
  receive mental health services.
         (c)  Populations to be served, as identified under
  Subsection (b)(2) [(b)(3)], must include youth at risk of
  residential placement, inpatient mental health hospitalization,
  incarceration, or reincarceration because of severe emotional
  disturbance, including:
               (1)  students in a special education program as a
  result of emotional disturbance under Subchapter A, Chapter 29,
  Education Code; and
               (2)  youth with a severe emotional disturbance and a
  co-occurring:
                     (A)  substance abuse disorder; or
                     (B)  developmental disability.
         [(d)     Outcome criteria established under Subsection (b)(4)
  must be consistent with outcome measures used in evaluations of
  individualized children's services projects in other states.]
         SECTION 4.  Section 531.255, Government Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 531.255.  EVALUATION. [(a)] The commission and the
  [Texas] Department of State [Mental] Health Services [and Mental
  Retardation] jointly shall monitor the progress of the grant
  [expansion] communities, including monitoring cost avoidance and
  the net savings that result from implementing a local system of
  care.
         SECTION 5.  Section 531.257, Government Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 531.257.  TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR GRANT PROJECTS. The
  commission may provide technical assistance to a community that
  receives a grant under Section 531.252 [531.256].
         SECTION 6.  Sections 531.253, 531.254, 531.255(b), (c), and
  (d), 531.256, and 531.258, Government Code, are repealed.
         SECTION 7.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
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