83R4650 AED-F

By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 421

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the Texas System of Care and the development of local mental health systems of care for certain children.

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

SECTION 1. The heading to Subchapter G-1, Chapter 531, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

SUBCHAPTER G-1. DEVELOPING LOCAL MENTAL HEALTH [CARE] SYSTEMS OF

CARE FOR CERTAIN CHILDREN

SECTION 2. Section 531.251, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 531.251. TEXAS SYSTEM OF CARE [PILOT PROJECT] CONSORTIUM[; EXPANSION PLAN]. (a) The commission shall form a consortium to have responsibility [develop criteria] for and oversight over a state system of care [and implement the expansion of the Texas Integrated Funding Initiative pilot project and] to develop local mental health systems of care [systems] in communities for minors who are receiving residential mental health services or inpatient mental health hospitalization or who are at risk of being removed from the minor's home and placed in a more restrictive environment to receive mental health services, including an inpatient mental health hospital, a residential treatment facility, or a facility or program operated by the Department of Family and Protective Services or an agency that is part of the juvenile justice system [placement to receive mental health services].

(a-1) The consortium must include:

(1) representatives of the [Texas] Department of State [Mental] Health Services [and Mental Retardation], Department of Family and Protective [and Regulatory] Services, Health and Human Services Commission's medicaid program, Texas Education Agency, [Texas Youth Commission,] Texas Juvenile Justice Department [Probation Commission], and Texas Correctional Office on Offenders with Medical or Mental Impairments;

(2) one youth or young adult who has a serious emotional disturbance and has received mental health services and supports; or

(3) a family member of a youth or young adult described by Subdivision (1) [Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse and an equal number of family advocates].

(a-2) The consortium may coordinate with the Children's Policy Council for the purposes of including the representation required by Subsections (a-1)(2) and (3).

(b) The commission and the consortium shall:

(1) maintain [develop] a comprehensive plan [model and guidelines] for the delivery of mental health services and supports [support] to a minor and a minor's family using a system of care framework [, initiated before the person's 18th birthday], including best practices in the financing, administration, governance, and delivery of those services;

(2) implement strategies [establish a plan] to expand the use of system of care practices [Texas Integrated Funding Initiative so that the initiative may operate] in the planning and delivery of services throughout the state [up to six communities]; [and]

(3) identify appropriate local, [sources of] state, and federal funding sources to finance infrastructure and mental health services needed to support state and local system of care efforts; and

(4) develop an evaluation system to measure outcomes of state and local system of care efforts [under the initiative from a central fund for expansion communities].

(b-1) Not later than November 1 of each even-numbered year, the consortium shall submit a report to the legislature and the Council on Children and Families that contains an evaluation of the outcomes of the Texas System of Care and recommendations on strengthening state policies and practices that support local systems of care, including recommendations relating to:

(1) methods to increase access to effective and coordinated services and supports;

(2) methods to increase community capacity to implement local systems of care through training and technical assistance;

(3) use of cross-system performance and outcome data to make informed decisions at individual and system levels; and

(4) strategies to maximize public and private funding at the local, state, and federal levels.

SECTION 3. Section 531.252, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 531.252. PROPOSALS FOR LOCAL SYSTEM OF CARE GRANTS [EXPANSION COMMUNITIES]. (a) The commission by rule may [shall] establish a request-for-proposal process to select [expansion] communities to implement a local system of care as funding is available [participate in the initiative].

(b) The commission and the consortium shall develop criteria to evaluate proposals for selecting [expansion] communities [to participate in the expanded initiative]. The criteria must:

(1) [reflect the underlying principles of the Texas Integrated Funding Initiative;

[(2)] emphasize services that are provided in the community, strengths-based, culturally and linguistically competent, family-driven [family-centered], and youth-guided [seamless];

(2) [(3)] identify populations to be served under the proposals;

(3) [(4)] establish [for the expansion communities] service outcome goals for the grant communities;

(4) require demonstration of the capacity to collect data related to minors who are receiving [residential] mental health services in residential facilities or inpatient mental health hospitals or who are at risk of residential placement to receive mental health services or inpatient mental health hospitalization, including data relating to whether the system of care is:

(A) decreasing incidents of abuse or neglect of the minors;

(B) reducing recidivism rates of juvenile offenders;

(C) increasing school attendance and progress of the minors;

(D) reducing the rate of placement of the minors in residential treatment or inpatient mental health hospitalization;

(E) increasing the rate of reunification of the minors with their families;

(F) improving the emotional, behavioral, and social adjustment of the minors; and

(G) improving the stability of placements of the minors;

(5) provide for locations of participating communities in urban, suburban, and rural settings; and

(6) specify information that must be provided in a proposal for a community, including:

(A) information on the costs of the activities proposed; and

(B) the characteristics of minors in the community who are in residential care or inpatient mental health hospitals for mental health services or who are at risk of being placed in residential care or inpatient mental health hospitals to receive mental health services.

(c) Populations to be served, as identified under Subsection (b)(2) [(b)(3)], must include youth at risk of residential placement, inpatient mental health hospitalization, incarceration, or reincarceration because of severe emotional disturbance, including:

(1) students in a special education program as a result of emotional disturbance under Subchapter A, Chapter 29, Education Code; and

(2) youth with a severe emotional disturbance and a co-occurring:

(A) substance abuse disorder; or

(B) developmental disability.

[(d) Outcome criteria established under Subsection (b)(4) must be consistent with outcome measures used in evaluations of individualized children's services projects in other states.]

SECTION 4. Section 531.255, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 531.255. EVALUATION. [(a)] The commission and the [Texas] Department of State [Mental] Health Services [and Mental Retardation] jointly shall monitor the progress of the grant [expansion] communities, including monitoring cost avoidance and the net savings that result from implementing a local system of care.

SECTION 5. Section 531.257, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 531.257. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR GRANT PROJECTS. The commission may provide technical assistance to a community that receives a grant under Section 531.252 [531.256].

SECTION 6. Sections 531.253, 531.254, 531.255(b), (c), and (d), 531.256, and 531.258, Government Code, are repealed.

SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.