80R8130 JJT-F

By: Van de Putte S.B. No. 1453

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to including veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom and their families as priority populations in the community-based mental health care system.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 531.001(f), Health and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:

(f) It is the public policy of this state to offer services first to those persons who are most in need, including servicemembers, veterans, and dependents of servicemembers or veterans. Therefore, funds appropriated by the legislature for mental health and mental retardation services may be spent only to provide services to those most in need, including the priority populations identified in the department's long-range plan.

SECTION 2. Section 531.002, Health and Safety Code, is amended by amending Subdivisions (12) and (15) and adding Subdivisions (6-a), (16-a), and (18) to read as follows:

(6-a) "Dependent," with respect to a servicemember or veteran, means the spouse or dependent child of a servicemember or veteran.

(12) "Mental health services" includes all services concerned with research, prevention, and detection of mental disorders and disabilities, and all services necessary to treat, care for, control, supervise, and rehabilitate persons who have a mental disorder or disability, including persons whose mental disorders or disabilities result from alcoholism or drug addiction and persons who have combat-related disorders resulting from serving, or being a dependent of a person serving, in an area designated as a combat zone or qualified hazardous duty area by the president of the United States during Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom.

(15) "Priority population" means those groups of persons with mental illness or mental retardation identified by the department as being most in need of mental health services, including servicemembers and veterans and dependents described by Section 533.0357, or mental retardation services.

(16-a) "Servicemember" means a person who is a member of the armed forces of the United States or a member of the Texas National Guard called to federal active duty.

(18) "Veteran" means a person who served in the army, navy, air force, marine corps, or coast guard of the United States or in an auxiliary service of one or more of those branches.

SECTION 3. Subchapter B, Chapter 533, Health and Safety Code, is amended by adding Section 533.0357 to read as follows:

Sec. 533.0357. MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES FOR SERVICEMEMBERS, VETERANS, AND DEPENDENTS. A local mental health authority shall ensure the provision of assessment services, crisis services, and intensive and comprehensive mental health services for:

(1) servicemembers and veterans who have combat-related disorders resulting from serving in an area designated as a combat zone or qualified hazardous duty area by the president of the United States during Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom, including post-traumatic stress disorders, clinically severe depression, and bipolar disorders;

(2) children of those servicemembers or veterans who have serious emotional illnesses; and

(3) spouses of those servicemembers or veterans who have major depression disorders or generalized anxiety disorders.

SECTION 4. Section 533.040(a), Health and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) The department shall ensure the development of programs and the expansion of services at the community level for children with mental illness, including children of servicemembers or veterans described by Section 533.0357, or mental retardation, or both, and for their families. The department shall:

(1) prepare and review budgets for services for children;

(2) develop departmental policies relating to children's programs and service delivery; [and]

(3) increase interagency coordination activities to enhance the provision of services for children; and

(4) develop outreach efforts to military hospitals and military institutions at the local level to inform those hospitals and institutions of the services available to children of servicemembers or veterans described by Section 533.0357.

SECTION 5. Chapter 533, Health and Safety Code, is amended by adding Subchapter F to read as follows: SUBCHAPTER F. MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES FOR CERTAIN SERVICEMEMBERS, VETERANS, AND DEPENDENTS

Sec. 533.151. EQUITY FUNDING PLAN. In making distributions to local mental health authorities under the Department of State Health Services' equity funding plan, the department shall consider the number of temporary or permanent servicemembers, veterans, and dependents described by Section 533.0357 who reside in each authority's service area.

Sec. 533.152. USE OF FUNDING. (a) A local mental health or mental retardation authority may use equity funds and crisis reserve funds to develop and prioritize the authority's ability to provide mental health services to servicemembers, veterans, and dependents described by Section 533.0357, including:

(1) screening and assessment services; and

(2) treatment services, including:

(A) inpatient crisis respite services;

(B) psychiatric evaluations;

(C) medication management services;

(D) shelter care services;

(E) outpatient integrated mental health services such as counseling, skills training, or case management;

(F) co-occurring substance abuse treatment services;

(G) psychiatric rehabilitation; and

(H) continuity of care services.

(b) A local mental health or mental retardation authority may use crisis reserve funds to develop a model program to provide services described by Subsection (a) in collaboration with one or more local military hospitals or other military institution personnel.

Sec. 533.153. REPORT. At least once each year, a local mental health or mental retardation authority shall compile information relating to the services provided under this subchapter and deliver a report on those services to the Department of State Health Services.

SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.