Bill Text: TX SB539 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to a study on employing mental health professionals or mental health response teams to assist when responding to a behavioral health-related emergency call.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-11 - Referred to Health & Human Services [SB539 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-SB539-Introduced.html
87R3214 EAS-D | ||
By: Blanco | S.B. No. 539 |
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relating to a study on employing mental health professionals or | ||
mental health response teams to assist when 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 to be 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 individuals with: | ||
(1) mental illnesses; | ||
(2) substance use disorders; or | ||
(3) intellectual or developmental disabilities. | ||
(c) In conducting the study, the commission shall evaluate | ||
which types of behavioral health-related emergency calls or other | ||
community interactions 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 where 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 responded to by a mental health professional or a mental | ||
health response team. A community-based outcome may include: | ||
(1) preventing persons with mental illness, persons | ||
with substance use disorders, and persons with 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, whether the individual presented with a mental | ||
illness, whether the individual presented with a substance use | ||
disorder, and whether the individual presented with 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, and intellectual or | ||
developmental disorders; | ||
(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 that involve 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 to a law enforcement agency | ||
for agency use of a mental health response team to respond remotely | ||
to emergency calls. | ||
(h) In conducting the study, the commission shall evaluate | ||
the impact of certain funding sources on establishing mental health | ||
response teams across this state, especially the impact to the | ||
establishment, staffing, and maintenance of those teams. Funding | ||
sources that the commission must consider include funding: | ||
(1) from a waiver under Section 1115 of the Social | ||
Security Act (42 U.S.C. Section 1315); | ||
(2) allocated by Chapter 528 (S.B. 292), Acts of the | ||
85th Legislature, Regular Session, 2017; or | ||
(3) from other funding sources 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 city in this state with a population greater | ||
than 100,000. | ||
(j) Information collected for the study must include not | ||
less than two years of information regarding the use of mental | ||
health response teams by a law enforcement agency unless the law | ||
enforcement agency has not been using mental health response teams | ||
or mental health professionals for two years. | ||
(k) Not later than December 1, 2022, 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 department considers significant. The commission shall | ||
post the report on the commission's Internet website. | ||
SECTION 2. This Act expires September 1, 2023. | ||
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021. |