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Senate Bill 1677 |
Senate Author: Perry |
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Effective: 9-1-23 |
House Sponsor: Price |
Senate Bill 1677 amends the Government Code to require the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), if it is appropriated money to implement grant programs to provide certain services to individuals with mental illness in excess of the total amount of grants awarded under the programs in the previous state fiscal year, with regard to selecting grant recipients for the excess amount, to accept applicants that were not selected in the previous state fiscal year or that were selected but require additional funding. The bill requires HHSC to establish procedures to assist a community collaborative that includes a county with a population of less than 250,000 with the submission of a petition to HHSC for seeking a grant from the applicable program to reduce recidivism, arrest, and incarceration among individuals with mental illness and to reduce wait time for forensic commitment.
Senate Bill 1677 requires HHSC, in cooperation with local mental health authorities located primarily in rural areas, to contract with nonprofit organizations or governmental entities to establish or expand behavioral health centers or jail diversion centers in the authorities' local service areas to provide for the following:
· additional forensic hospital beds and competency restoration services;
· inpatient and outpatient mental health services to adults and children; and
· services to reduce recidivism and the frequency of arrest, incarceration, and emergency detentions among persons with mental illness in the service areas.
The bill requires the executive commissioner of HHSC to develop criteria for the evaluation of applications or proposals submitted by a nonprofit organization seeking such a contract.
Senate Bill 1677 requires the State Auditor's Office to conduct an audit of the inmates in county jails who are waiting for a forensic hospital bed for the provision of competency restoration services that identifies any issues and inefficiencies in the commitment process and provides for a public report of the audit.