S.B. No. 1182
AN ACT
relating to local area service planning by local mental health or
mental retardation authorities and to other services and
proceedings related to mental health.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 533, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 533.0354 to read as follows:
Sec. 533.0354. LOCAL AUTHORITY PLANNING FOR LOCAL SERVICE
AREA. (a) Each local mental health or mental retardation
authority shall develop a local service area plan to maximize the
authority's services by using the best and most cost-effective
means of using federal, state, and local resources to meet the needs
of the local community according to the relative priority of those
needs. Each local mental health or mental retardation authority
shall undertake to maximize federal funding.
(b) A local service area plan must be consistent with the
purposes, goals, and policies stated in Section 531.001 and the
department's long-range plan developed under Section 533.032.
(c) The department and a local mental health or mental
retardation authority shall use the local authority's local service
plan as the basis for contracts between the department and the local
authority and for establishing the local authority's
responsibility for achieving outcomes related to the needs and
characteristics of the authority's local service area.
(d) In developing the local service area plan, the local
mental health or mental retardation authority shall:
(1) solicit information regarding community needs
from:
(A) representatives of the local community;
(B) consumers of community-based mental health
and mental retardation services and members of the families of
those consumers;
(C) consumers of services of state schools for
persons with mental retardation, members of families of those
consumers, and members of state school volunteer services councils,
if a state school is located in the local service area of the local
authority; and
(D) other interested persons; and
(2) consider:
(A) criteria for assuring accountability for,
cost-effectiveness of, and relative value of service delivery
options;
(B) goals to minimize the need for state hospital
and community hospital care;
(C) goals to ensure a client with mental
retardation is placed in the least restrictive environment
appropriate to the person's care;
(D) opportunities for innovation to ensure that
the local authority is communicating to all potential and incoming
consumers about the availability of services of state schools for
persons with mental retardation in the local service area of the
local authority;
(E) goals to divert consumers of services from
the criminal justice system;
(F) goals to ensure that a child with mental
illness remains with the child's parent or guardian as appropriate
to the child's care; and
(G) opportunities for innovation in services and
service delivery.
(e) The department and the local mental health or mental
retardation authority by contract shall enter into a performance
agreement that specifies required standard outcomes for the
programs administered by the local authority. Performance related
to the specified outcomes must be verifiable by the department. The
performance agreement must include measures related to the outputs,
costs, and units of service delivered. Information regarding the
outputs, costs, and units of service delivered shall be recorded in
the local authority's automated data systems, and reports regarding
the outputs, costs, and units of service delivered shall be
submitted to the department at least annually as provided by
department rule.
(f) The department and the local mental health or mental
retardation authority shall provide an opportunity for community
centers and advocacy groups to provide information or assistance in
developing the specified performance outcomes under Subsection
(e).
SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 531.0224 to read as follows:
Sec. 531.0224. MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE SERVICES.
(a) To ensure appropriate delivery of mental health and substance
abuse services, the commission shall regularly evaluate program
contractors and subcontractors that provide or arrange for the
services for persons enrolled in:
(1) the Medicaid managed care program; and
(2) the state child health plan program.
(b) The commission shall monitor:
(1) penetration rates, as they relate to mental health
and substance abuse services provided by or through contractors and
subcontractors;
(2) utilization rates, as they relate to mental health
and substance abuse services provided by or through contractors and
subcontractors; and
(3) provider networks used by contractors and
subcontractors to provide mental health or substance abuse
services.
SECTION 3. Chapter 574, Health and Safety Code, is amended
by adding Subchapter I to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER I. TESTIMONY BY CLOSED-CIRCUIT VIDEO TELECONFERENCING
AT PROCEEDINGS
Sec. 574.201. APPLICATION OF SUBCHAPTER. This subchapter
applies only to a hearing or proceeding related to court-ordered
mental health services under this chapter.
Sec. 574.202. CERTAIN TESTIMONY BY CLOSED-CIRCUIT VIDEO
TELECONFERENCING PERMITTED. (a) A judge or magistrate may permit a
physician or a nonphysician mental health professional to testify
at a hearing or proceeding by closed-circuit video teleconferencing
if:
(1) closed-circuit video teleconferencing is
available to the judge or magistrate for that purpose;
(2) the proposed patient and the attorney representing
the proposed patient do not file with the court a written objection
to the use of closed-circuit video teleconferencing;
(3) the closed-circuit video teleconferencing system
provides for a simultaneous, compressed full-motion video and
interactive communication of image and sound between all persons
involved in the hearing; and
(4) on request of the proposed patient, the proposed
patient and the proposed patient's attorney can communicate
privately without being recorded or heard by the judge or
magistrate or by the attorney representing the state.
(b) The judge or magistrate must provide written notice of
the use of closed-circuit video teleconferencing to the proposed
patient, the proposed patient's attorney, and the attorney
representing the state not later than the third day before the date
of the hearing.
(c) On motion of the proposed patient or of the attorney
representing the state the court shall, or on the court's
discretion the court may, terminate testimony by closed-circuit
video teleconferencing under this section at any time during the
testimony and require the physician or nonphysician mental health
professional to testify in person.
(d) A recording of the testimony under Subsection (a) shall
be made and preserved with the court's record of the hearing.
SECTION 4. (a) 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.
(b) Subsections (c) and (e), Section 533.0354, Health and
Safety Code, as added by this Act, apply only to contracts between
the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation and a
local mental health or mental retardation authority executed on or
after January 1, 2004.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1182 passed the Senate on
April 25, 2003, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0;
May 30, 2003, Senate refused to concur in House amendments and
requested appointment of Conference Committee; May 30, 2003, House
granted request of the Senate; June 1, 2003, Senate adopted
Conference Committee Report by the following vote: Yeas 31,
Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1182 passed the House, with
amendments, on May 25, 2003, by the following vote: Yeas 117,
Nays 0, two present not voting; May 30, 2003, House granted request
of the Senate for appointment of Conference Committee;
June 1, 2003, House adopted Conference Committee Report by the
following vote: Yeas 146, Nays 0, one present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor