BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 1678

By: Hilderbran

Public Health

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

In January 2005, the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) closed the Kerrville State Hospital to civil commitments, leaving a void in the local community for individuals requiring inpatient psychiatric hospitalization to stabilize their symptoms. As a temporary measure to fill this void, DSHS authorized the reopening of 16 beds at Kerrville State Hospital for civil commitments.

During this interim period, Hill Country Community MHMR Center and DSHS have been working cooperatively to develop plans to open a crisis stabilization unit operated by the center in a vacant building on the grounds of Kerrville State Hospital. The project is a joint effort of state, county, and private foundations. The 80th Legislature, Regular Session, 2007, enacted H.B. 654, authorizing the Hill Country local mental health authority to establish a pilot program to operate a 16-bed crisis stabilization unit on the grounds of the Kerrville State Hospital.

C.S.H.B. 1678 converts the Hill Country local mental health authority crisis stabilization unit from a pilot program to a permanent program.      

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

C.S.H.B. 1678 amends the Health and Safety Code to convert the Hill Country local mental health authority crisis stabilization unit pilot project into a permanent crisis stabilization unit on the grounds of the Kerrville State Hospital. The bill requires the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to contract with the local mental health authority serving the Hill Country area, including Kerr County, to operate the unit. The bill makes a conforming change to clarify that DSHS is required to include provisions in the contract requiring the local mental health authority to ensure that the crisis stabilization unit provides short-term residential treatment, including medical and nursing services, designed to reduce a patient's acute symptoms of mental illness and prevent a patient's admission to an inpatient mental health facility. The bill makes conforming changes relating to contracts between the local mental health authority and Kerrville State Hospital and the repeal of reporting requirements for the pilot project and the project's expiration. The bill clarifies that the requirement that DSHS reduce by 16 the number of beds DSHS operates applies to the state hospital system rather than the state hospital.

C.S.H.B. 1678 repeals Sections 551.009(g) and (h), Health and Safety Code.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the act does not receive the necessary vote, the act takes effect August 31, 2009.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 1678 differs from the original by requiring the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to contract with the local mental health authority serving the Hill Country area, including Kerr County, to operate the crisis stabilization unit rather than operating the unit itself as in the original. The substitute adds a conforming change not in the original to clarify that DSHS is required to include provisions in the contract requiring the local mental health authority to ensure that the crisis stabilization unit provides a certain level of short-term residential treatment. The substitute differs from the original by adding a provision clarifying that the requirement that DSHS reduce by 16 the number of beds in operation refers to the state hospital system rather than the state hospital.