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Floor Packet Page No. 209                                                   

	
Amend CSHB 1 in Article II of the bill following the 
appropriation to the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental 
Retardation by adding the following appropriately numbered rider:
	___.  PRIVATIZATION OF MENTAL HEALTH FACILITY.  (a)  Out of 
the funds appropriated above in Strategy B.1.1, MH State Hospital 
Services, (page II-71), for the state fiscal year beginning 
September 1, 2004, the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental 
Retardation may allocate funds to contract with a private service 
provider to operate a mental health facility owned by the 
department only if the Health and Human Services Commission 
determines that the private service provider will operate the 
facility at a cost that is at least 10 percent less than the cost to 
the department to operate the facility and gives its prior approval 
of the contract.
	(b)  On or before April 1, 2004, the Texas Department of 
Mental Health and Mental Retardation shall report to the 
commissioner of health and human services whether the department 
has received a proposal by a private service provider to operate a 
facility.  The report must include an evaluation of the private 
service provider's qualifications, experience, and financial 
strength, a determination of whether the provider can operate the 
facility under the same standard of care as the department, and an 
analysis of the projected savings under a proposed contract with 
the provider.  The savings analysis must include all department 
costs to operate the facility, including costs, such as employee 
benefits, that are not appropriated to the department.
	(c)  If the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental 
Retardation contracts with a private service provider to operate a 
facility, the department, the governor's office of budget and 
planning, and the Legislative Budget Board shall identify sources 
of funding that must be transferred to the department to fund the 
contract.
	(d)  It is the intent of the Legislature that a facility 
operated under a contract be required to treat a population with the 
same characteristics and acuity levels as that population presently 
treated at that facility.