BILL ANALYSIS |
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C.S.H.B. 637 |
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By: White |
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Public Health |
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Committee Report (Substituted) |
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BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Interested parties have identified a growing need to address the concerns regarding youth with mental illness in the juvenile justice system. C.S.H.B. 637 seeks to provide for local stakeholder input in regions across the state to gather the most effective ideas to improve the current system.
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CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
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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.
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ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 637 amends the Health and Safety Code to require each local mental health authority to form a local committee on children's mental health encompassing the authority's region. The bill sets out the composition of such a committee and requires the committee to develop and adopt a plan and submit the plan to the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) not later than January 1, 2019. The bill requires the committee to develop, adopt, and unanimously agree on a plan identifying the population of children with mental illness who are committed to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD); a measurable goal for reducing that population; a method for improving indigent defense for children with mental illness who are alleged to have engaged in delinquent conduct or conduct indicating a need for supervision; a method for addressing mental illness among children who are the subject of an investigation of child abuse or neglect; a method for quickly identifying and diverting children with mental illness from TJJD in the interest of public safety, justice, and public health; and a method for providing community supervision to reduce recidivism among children adjudicated as having engaged in delinquent conduct or conduct indicating a need for supervision and to reduce the population of children aging out of TJJD and into the adult criminal justice system.
C.S.H.B. 637 requires the committee to dissolve after the committee submits its plan to HHSC. The bill prohibits HHSC from distributing to a local mental health authority state funds for mental or behavioral health services for the 2020-2021 state fiscal biennium unless the authority's committee has submitted its plan to HHSC on or before January 1, 2019. The bill's provisions expire August 31, 2021.
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EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2017.
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COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 637 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
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