C.S.H.B. 2609 78(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


C.S.H.B. 2609
By: Coleman
Public Health
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 
         
The President of the United States has recently established the Freedom
Commission on Mental Illness that has as its mission statement to, "enable
adults and children with serious mental illness to live, work, learn, and
participate fully in their communities." The President charged the
commission with five tasks that it shall seek to complete. They are as
follows: 
 
_Focus on the desired outcomes of mental health care, which are to attain
each individual's maximum level of employment, self-care, interpersonal
relationships, and community participation.  
_Focus on community-level models of care that efficiently coordinate the
multiple health and human service providers and public and private payers
involved in mental health treatment and delivery of services.  
_Focus on those policies that maximize the utility of existing resources
by increasing cost effectiveness and reducing unnecessary and burdensome
regulatory barriers.  
_Consider how mental health research findings can be used most effectively
to influence the delivery of services.  
_Follow the principles of Federalism, and ensure that its recommendations
promote innovation, flexibility, and accountability at all levels of
government and respect the constitutional role of States. 

 In Texas, the Criminal Justice Policy Council reported that 17% of adults
and juveniles on probation  with the criminal justice system have had
prior contact with the public mental health system. As Texas' public
mental health system has deteriorated, a greater burden of dealing with
people with serious mental illness has fallen on the criminal justice
system. The criminal justice system is not designed to handle the needs of
the mentally ill, nor does it adequately distinguish between criminal
activity and mental illness. Texas' priority population definition for
access to the public mental health system is  a "danger to self or
others," which combined with a lack of resources has created substantial
barriers in access to treatment for mental illness.  
 
 As a result of these barriers, people with serious mental illness are
left with no where to turn, and they inevitably end up coming into contact
with police, who are often ill equipped to deal with the critical
situations that arise with mentally ill people.  People with mental
illness and/or mental retardation, who are typically non-violent
offenders, are incarcerated in the state jail facilities at an average
daily cost of $37.35 per person. In the spirit of the President's Freedom
Commission, CSHB 2609 seeks to integrate treatment services for mental
illness in the processing of cases in the judicial system, and thereby
divert people with mental illness away from the criminal justice system
and into treatment. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any
additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or
institution. 

ANALYSIS

CSHB 2609 would create a mental health court program for mentally ill and
mentally retarded citizens and sets forth the characteristics that a
program should have.  The authority to establish these programs is given
to the commissioners court of a county for persons who have been arrested
for a  misdemeanor and are suspected of having a mental illness or mental
retardation. The bill provides that a mental health court has authority to
handle all issues arising under Articles 16.22, 17.032, and 46.02 of the
Code of Criminal procedure. Oversight of this program is given to the
lieutenant governor and the speaker of the house to establish appropriate
legislative committees. A court under this program, may require a
participant to pay the cost of  treatment based on their ability to pay.
EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2003
         

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

CSHB 2609 eliminates the funding mechanism in the original bill. Under the
substitute, counties retain the authority to establish a mental health
courts programs, but receive no direct funding from the Texas Department
of Criminal Justice.