83R9826 EES-D

By: Huffman S.B. No. 1804

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the establishment of community collaboratives by local entities to provide services to and coordinate the care of persons who are homeless, persons with mental illness, and persons with substance abuse problems.

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

SECTION 1. Subtitle I, Title 4, Government Code, is amended by adding Chapter 539 to read as follows:

CHAPTER 539. COMMUNITY COLLABORATIVES

Sec. 539.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:

(1) "Department" means the Department of State Health Services.

(2) "Executive commissioner" means the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission.

Sec. 539.002. GRANTS FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMUNITY COLLABORATIVES. (a) To the extent funds are appropriated to the department for that purpose, the department shall make grants to local entities, including local governmental entities, nonprofit community organizations, and faith-based community organizations, to establish community collaboratives that bring the public and private sectors together to provide services to and coordinate the care of persons who are homeless, persons with mental illness, and persons with substance abuse problems.

(b) The amount of a grant made to a local entity by the department under this section may not exceed $7.5 million and, up to that amount, shall be equal to the amount of money provided to the entity from private funding sources for the establishment of a community collaborative.

Sec. 539.003. ACCEPTABLE USES OF GRANT MONEY. A local entity shall use money received from a grant made by the department and private funding sources for the establishment of a community collaborative for the development of the infrastructure of the collaborative and the start-up costs of the collaborative, provided that a collaborative must be self-sustaining within seven years. Other acceptable uses for the money include:

(1) the establishment, operation, or maintenance of intake centers, detoxification units, sheltering centers for food, workforce training centers, microbusinesses, and educational centers in the community served by the collaborative;

(2) the provision of clothing, hygiene products, and medical services to and the arrangement of transitional and permanent residential housing for persons served by the collaborative; and

(3) the establishment of triage procedures to protect the public safety in the community served by the collaborative.

Sec. 539.004. ELEMENTS OF COMMUNITY COLLABORATIVES. If appropriate, a local entity shall incorporate into the community collaborative established by the entity the use of the department-operated Texas Electronic Registrar, transportation plans, and case managers. An entity shall also consider incorporating into a collaborative mentoring and volunteering opportunities, strategies to reintegrate persons recently released from prison into the community, and services for veterans.

Sec. 539.005. OUTCOME MEASURES FOR COMMUNITY COLLABORATIVES. Each local entity that receives a grant from the department to establish a community collaborative shall select at least three of the following outcome measures that the entity will focus on meeting through the implementation of the collaborative:

(1) persons served by the collaborative will find regular employment that results in those persons having incomes that are at or above 125 percent of the federal poverty level;

(2) persons served by the collaborative will find permanent housing;

(3) persons served by the collaborative will complete alcohol or substance abuse programs;

(4) the collaborative will help start social businesses in the community and those businesses will create jobs and provide funding that will enable the collaborative to eventually become self-sustaining;

(5) there will be a decrease in the local recidivism rate and an increase in the availability of jail beds in the community served by the collaborative; and

(6) there will be a decrease in the number of emergency room visits by persons served by the collaborative.

Sec. 539.006. ANNUAL REVIEW OF OUTCOME MEASURES. The department shall contract with an independent third party to verify annually whether a community collaborative is meeting the outcome measures under Section 539.005 selected by the local entity that established the collaborative.

Sec. 539.007. RECOVERY OF FUNDS. The department shall establish processes by which the department may recover funds from a local entity if the community collaborative established by the entity does not meet the outcome measures selected by the entity for the collaborative under Section 539.005 or is not self-sustaining after seven years.

Sec. 539.008. RULES. The executive commissioner shall adopt any rules necessary to implement the community collaborative grant program established under this chapter, including rules to establish the requirements for a local entity to be eligible to receive a grant, the required elements of a community collaborative established by a local entity, and permissible and prohibited uses of money received by a local entity from a grant made by the department under this chapter.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.