78R5818 JRD-D
By: Naishtat H.B. No. 1490
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the development and implementation of a statewide
suicide prevention plan under the direction of the Health and Human
Services Commission.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 531.064 to read as follows:
Sec. 531.064. SUICIDE PREVENTION PLAN. (a) The commission
shall develop a statewide suicide prevention plan.
(b) The commission shall establish a Suicide Prevention
Council to advise and assist the commission in developing and
overseeing the implementation of the plan.
(c) The following state agencies shall each appoint a
representative to the Suicide Prevention Council: the Texas
Department on Aging; the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug
Abuse; the Texas Education Agency; the Texas Department of Health;
the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation; and
the commission. The commission shall appoint at least two members
of the Texas Suicide Prevention Plan Steering Committee, one member
of the governor's trauma advisory council, and two persons who have
lost a loved one to suicide to the council and may appoint other
persons to the council as the commission considers appropriate. A
member of the council appointed by the commission:
(1) serves on the council at the will of the
commission; and
(2) is not entitled to compensation for service on the
council but is entitled to reasonable and necessary travel expenses
incurred by the member in attending meetings of the council,
subject to any applicable limitation on reimbursement provided by
general law or the General Appropriations Act.
(d) Chapter 2110 does not apply to the Suicide Prevention
Council.
(e) In developing the statewide suicide prevention plan,
the commission and the council shall consult the National Strategy
For Suicide Prevention developed by the Surgeon General of the
United States.
(f) The commission and any other state agency listed in
Subsection (c) may accept gifts, grants, and donations for the
purpose of developing or implementing the plan.
(g) The commission or another agency listed in Subsection
(c) may implement provisions of the plan to the extent that gifts,
grants, donations, or other money is made available to the
commission or other agency for that purpose. The commission, in
implementing the plan, may make grants to appropriate local or
statewide public or private entities to accomplish objectives of
the plan.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.