By Maxey                                              H.B. No. 2952
         76R7331 SMJ-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the participation of certain inmates and former inmates
 1-3     in certain pilot programs for mental health care.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  TESTING OF MEDICATION ALGORITHMS AT CORRECTIONS
 1-6     FACILITY.  (a)  The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, in
 1-7     cooperation with the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental
 1-8     Retardation, shall select a site at a state corrections facility
 1-9     and permit mentally ill inmates at the site to participate in pilot
1-10     testing of the Texas Medication Algorithm Project.  The site
1-11     selected must be conducive to the project's evaluation of the costs
1-12     and benefits of treatment algorithms for persons with mental
1-13     illness.
1-14           (b)  The Texas Department of Criminal Justice shall pay the
1-15     costs for inmate participation in the project from money
1-16     appropriated for inmate mental health care to the Correctional
1-17     Managed Health Care Advisory Committee.
1-18           (c)  The Texas Board of Criminal Justice shall adopt rules
1-19     necessary to implement this section.
1-20           SECTION 2.  INCLUSION OF JUVENILES IN MEDICATION ALGORITHM
1-21     PROJECT.  The Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental
1-22     Retardation shall include mentally ill persons who have been
1-23     committed to a facility under the jurisdiction of the Texas Youth
1-24     Commission in the Children's Medication Algorithm Project.  The
 2-1     department shall select the participants in cooperation with the
 2-2     Texas Youth Commission, the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission,
 2-3     and the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services.
 2-4           SECTION 3.  REPRESENTATIVE PAYEE PROJECT FOR RELEASED
 2-5     INMATES.  (a)  The Texas Council on Offenders with Mental
 2-6     Impairments, in cooperation with the Texas Department of Mental
 2-7     Health and Mental Retardation, shall establish a pilot project in
 2-8     one or more counties to assist former inmates with mental illness
 2-9     who receive federal disability benefits following their release
2-10     from a corrections facility.
2-11           (b)  The pilot project must establish procedures under which
2-12     a local mental health care provider may serve as the representative
2-13     payee, as provided by 42 U.S.C.  Section 405, for former inmates
2-14     with mental illness who receive disability benefits.  A provider
2-15     that may serve as a representative payee includes:
2-16                 (1)  a community mental health center established under
2-17     Subchapter A, Chapter 534, Health and Safety Code; or
2-18                 (2)  a regional clinic operated by The University of
2-19     Texas Medical Branch or Texas Tech University Health Sciences
2-20     Center.
2-21           (c)  While serving as a representative payee, a mental health
2-22     care provider must use the federal benefits it receives for the
2-23     provision of services to the former inmate, including:
2-24                 (1)  medical care;
2-25                 (2)  housing assistance;
2-26                 (3)  financial assistance;
2-27                 (4)  services incorporating treatment algorithms for
 3-1     persons with mental illness, where practicable; and
 3-2                 (5)  other services necessary to assist the former
 3-3     inmate in reentering a community.
 3-4           (d)  Following a reasonable pilot period, the Texas Council
 3-5     on Offenders with Mental Impairments shall evaluate the project and
 3-6     report its results to the 77th Legislature.  In its report, the
 3-7     council shall recommend whether the project should be discontinued,
 3-8     continued, or expanded.
 3-9           SECTION 4.  COOPERATION WITH COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE.  A state
3-10     agency that participates in the Texas Medication Algorithm Project
3-11     or the Children's Medication Algorithm Project shall cooperate with
3-12     the comptroller in  developing an analysis of the costs and
3-13     benefits of medical treatment algorithms for inmates and former
3-14     inmates with mental illness.  The comptroller shall report on the
3-15     results of the analysis to the 77th Legislature.
3-16           SECTION 5.  EXPIRATION.  This Act expires January 17, 2001.
3-17           SECTION 6.  EMERGENCY.  The importance of this legislation
3-18     and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-19     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-20     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-21     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-22     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-23     passage, and it is so enacted.