76R12723 CAG-F
By Hochberg H.B. No. 3011
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 3011:
By Hochberg C.S.H.B. No. 3011
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the funding and operation of the Harris County
1-3 Psychiatric Center.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 73.401, Education Code, is amended to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 73.401. ESTABLISHMENT. The Harris County Psychiatric
1-8 Center is a public-owned, publicly-operated facility that has been
1-9 developed and built by Harris County, Texas, and the Texas
1-10 Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. The facilities
1-11 of the Harris County Psychiatric Center to be operated by The
1-12 University of Texas System shall be operated consistent with the
1-13 rules and regulations of the board of regents and with the
1-14 provisions of this subchapter.
1-15 SECTION 2. Section 73.404(a), Education Code, is amended to
1-16 read as follows:
1-17 (a) Funding for the state-supported facilities and
1-18 operations of the Harris County Psychiatric Center shall be
1-19 provided through legislative appropriations to [the Texas
1-20 Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation and to] The
1-21 University of Texas Health Science Center [System, and any
1-22 appropriations to the department for the Harris County Psychiatric
1-23 Center shall be transferred to The University of Texas System in
1-24 accordance with the General Appropriations Act and the lease and/or
2-1 sublease and operating agreement provided for in Section 73.405 of
2-2 this code]. A separate line item entry shall be made in the
2-3 General Appropriations Act at The University of Texas Health
2-4 Science Center at Houston and in the annual operating budget of The
2-5 University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston for the Harris
2-6 County Psychiatric Center funding. Legislative appropriations for
2-7 the Harris County Psychiatric Center operating budget may not be
2-8 transferred unless specifically authorized by the legislature.
2-9 Legislative appropriations may be for any further construction at
2-10 the Harris County Psychiatric Center; for equipment, both fixed
2-11 and movable; for utilities, including data processing and
2-12 communications; for maintenance, repairs, renovations, and
2-13 additions; for any damage or destruction; and for operations of
2-14 the Harris County Psychiatric Center; provided, however, that as
2-15 to funding for Harris County Psychiatric Center operations,
2-16 legislative appropriations shall not exceed 85 percent of the total
2-17 operating costs of the entire Harris County Psychiatric Center,
2-18 exclusive of any costs of the commitment center.
2-19 SECTION 3. Section 73.405, Education Code, is amended by
2-20 amending Subsections (c) and (d) and adding Subsections (e), (f),
2-21 (g), (h), and (i) to read as follows:
2-22 (c) Any lease and/or sublease and operating agreement may
2-23 provide all necessary or desirable terms for the operation of the
2-24 Harris County Psychiatric Center and may provide for duties and
2-25 powers with respect to medical and legal matters, Harris County
2-26 Psychiatric Center administration, staffing, patient services,
2-27 reports[,] and annual operating budgets of the Harris County
3-1 Psychiatric Center[, and transfers of appropriated funds as
3-2 provided for in Section 73.404 of this code].
3-3 (d) Any lease and/or sublease and operating agreement shall
3-4 provide that The University of Texas System shall cause the Harris
3-5 County Psychiatric Center to be operated in accordance with the
3-6 standards for accreditation of the Joint Commission on
3-7 Accreditation of Hospitals; that all financial transactions and
3-8 performance programs may be appropriately audited; that an
3-9 admission, discharge, and transfer coordination policy be
3-10 established; that appropriate patient data be made available to
3-11 the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation
3-12 [department], MHMRA, and the county, including but not limited to
3-13 diagnosis and lengths of stay; and that a priority of patient
3-14 treatment policy be established.
3-15 (e) The state-supported facilities of the Harris County
3-16 Psychiatric Center shall provide patient care, education, and
3-17 research in accordance with the center's stated mission and
3-18 priorities and in a manner that is consistent with the Lease,
3-19 Sublease, and Operating Agreement, as modified or amended. Patient
3-20 care at the center shall be of the highest quality and will, at a
3-21 minimum, be provided to:
3-22 (1) persons, including both adults and minors, with
3-23 severe and persistent mental illness;
3-24 (2) children and adolescents for crisis stabilization
3-25 services; and
3-26 (3) patients admitted under involuntary commitment.
3-27 (f) Subject to overall patient bed availability, admission
4-1 to the center will be on a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week basis.
4-2 The current relative allocation of state appropriated funds by
4-3 mission component of patient service, education, and research will
4-4 remain unchanged unless the change is by a mutual agreement between
4-5 the Harris County Psychiatric Center and the Texas Department of
4-6 Mental Health and Mental Retardation or the department's designee
4-7 or is specified in the General Appropriations Act. The Harris
4-8 County Psychiatric Center will continue to be an integral part of
4-9 the public health safety net of Harris County, which will include
4-10 but is not limited to, working with the locally designated Single
4-11 Portal Authority regarding bed utilization and prioritization of
4-12 admission to the Harris County Psychiatric Center, transfer
4-13 requests to the state hospital system, and transfers of all
4-14 relevant and appropriate patient data between parties to the
4-15 existing Lease, Sublease, and Operating Agreement.
4-16 (g) The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
4-17 and the Harris County Psychiatric Center will maintain
4-18 collaborative working relationships with both the state and county
4-19 designated mental health authorities in terms of assessment of
4-20 patient care service needs, area response planning, and design and
4-21 operation of closely integrated systems of care. To this end, on an
4-22 annual basis, a memorandum of understanding shall be developed
4-23 between the Harris County Psychiatric Center and the Mental Health
4-24 and Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County, after receipt of
4-25 input from the Local Area Planning and Advisory Committee
4-26 established under Subsection (i). The memorandum of understanding
4-27 shall establish mutually agreeable patient service performance
5-1 targets on the part of both parties for the state fiscal year, as
5-2 well as scheduled quarterly review by the parties. The executed
5-3 memorandum of understanding shall be incorporated into the Lease,
5-4 Sublease, and Operating Agreement. The parties shall, directly and
5-5 in good faith, negotiate any differences with respect to patient
5-6 service performance targets within 30 days after receiving
5-7 notification of the existence of an unresolved difference. If the
5-8 difference is not resolved within the 30-day period, the parties
5-9 shall submit their dispute to a mutually agreed on experienced
5-10 mediator located in Harris County. The mediator shall work with
5-11 the parties and the dispute shall be resolved utilizing nonbinding
5-12 mediation.
5-13 (h) The Harris County Psychiatric Center will provide
5-14 materials requested by the Texas Department of Mental Health and
5-15 Mental Retardation or the department's designee and will authorize
5-16 the use of the requested materials in the submission of reports or
5-17 appropriations requests to the legislature as may be required.
5-18 (i) The University of Texas Health Science Center at
5-19 Houston, through the Harris County Psychiatric Center, shall
5-20 establish a Local Area Planning and Advisory Committee. The
5-21 committee shall consist of nine members. The term of each member
5-22 is two years. Members of the committee will be appointed by the
5-23 leadership of the Harris County Psychiatric Center from
5-24 appointments forwarded to the center by the Mental Health Needs
5-25 Council, Incorporated, of Harris County, who will ensure that the
5-26 primary local mental health consumer organization and mental health
5-27 advocacy organization, both for children and adults, are
6-1 appropriately represented. The purpose of the committee will be,
6-2 at a minimum, to provide review and advice on strategic planning
6-3 and development of the operating budget request to the legislature
6-4 and the development and review of the annual patient service
6-5 performance targets for the memorandum of understanding described
6-6 in Subsection (g). The committee will meet, at least quarterly,
6-7 with the leadership of the Harris County Psychiatric Center to
6-8 carry out the center's purpose.
6-9 SECTION 4. The purpose of Section 73.404(a), Education Code,
6-10 as amended by this Act, is to appropriate state funding directly to
6-11 the operating entity currently provided for in law. The changes
6-12 made to Section 73.404(a) by this Act may not be interpreted as a
6-13 changing of any statutory obligation or relationship that existed
6-14 before the effective date of this Act. A contract or agreement in
6-15 force on the effective date of this Act continues in force under
6-16 the terms of the contract or agreement and may only be modified
6-17 under the terms of the contract or agreement, under the
6-18 requirements of any law that existed on the effective date of this
6-19 Act, by mutual agreement of the parties to the contract or
6-20 agreement, or as authorized by a subsequent law.
6-21 SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
6-22 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
6-23 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-24 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-25 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-26 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.