Honorable Tom Oliverson, Chair, House Committee on Insurance
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB2595 by Price (relating to a parity complaint portal and educational materials and parity law training regarding benefits for mental health conditions and substance use disorders to be made available through the portal and otherwise; designating October as mental health condition and substance use disorder parity awareness month.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB2595, Committee Report 1st House, Substituted : an impact of $0 through the biennium ending August 31, 2023.
The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill.
General Revenue-Related Funds, Five- Year Impact:
Fiscal Year
Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
2022
$0
2023
$0
2024
$0
2025
$0
2026
$0
All Funds, Five-Year Impact:
Fiscal Year
Probable Savings/(Cost) from Dept Ins Operating Acct 36
Probable Revenue Gain/(Loss) from Dept Ins Operating Acct 36
Change in Number of State Employees from FY 2021
2022
($278,769)
$278,769
3.0
2023
($76,218)
$76,218
1.0
2024
($76,218)
$76,218
1.0
2025
($76,218)
$76,218
1.0
2026
($76,218)
$76,218
1.0
Fiscal Analysis
The bill would amend the Government Code relating to a parity complaint portal and educational materials and parity law training regarding benefits for mental health conditions and substance use disorders to be made available through the portal, and to designate October as mental health condition and substance use disorder parity awareness month.
The bill would require training to include online, print, and in-person formats requiring the Customer Operations department to form a team of specialists to create educational materials, training and presentation materials, conduct online trainings, and create a webpage to include links of relevant third-party organization educational and additional parity law awareness materials.
Methodology
Based on information provided by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI), the Complaint Processing section of the Customer Operations division currently maintains a complaint portal which can be modified to accommodate processing mental health parity complaints.
To develop the educational materials required in the bill, TDI has indicated the agency will need 2.0 additional FTEs (Information Specialist V) to develop training content in fiscal year 2022 at a cost of $202,551 to General Revenue-Dedicated Fund 36.
To develop a prerecorded online training course that can be viewed by all behavioral health providers on-demand, and hold weekly webinars for these same providers, the agency has indicated a need of 1.0 additional FTEs (Information Specialist III) at a cost of $76,218 per fiscal year to General Revenue-Dedicated Fund 36.
Due to the self-leveling nature of the TDI operating account, any additional appropriations made from the account would be considered in the annual adjustment of the maintenance tax rates. Therefore, the overall revenue into the TDI operating account will be equal to the expenses and no net change in fund balance would occur because of this bill.
Technology
Anticipated technology costs as a result of implementing the bill total $5,850 in fiscal year 2022 and $600 in each subsequent fiscal year for software and hardware related to new FTEs.
Local Government Impact
No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
Source Agencies:
323 Teacher Retirement System, 327 Employees Retirement System, 454 Department of Insurance, 529 Hlth & Human Svcs Comm, 710 Texas A&M Univ System Admin, 720 UT Sys Admin