BILL ANALYSIS |
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C.S.H.B. 2467 |
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By: Davis, Sarah |
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Public Health |
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Committee Report (Substituted) |
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BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Concerned parties observe that peace officers are not receiving adequate mental health services after facing critical incidents such as shootings or bodily injuries. C.S.H.B. 2467 seeks to address this issue by providing for a grant program to support the provision of critical incident stress debriefing to certain peace officers.
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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. 2467 amends the Government Code to require the criminal justice division of the governor's office to establish and administer a grant program to assist law enforcement agencies in providing critical incident stress debriefing to peace officers who experience critical incidents while performing official duties. The bill defines "critical incident" as an incident involving a peace officer that occurs while the officer is performing official duties and that results in serious bodily injury to the officer or poses a substantial risk of serious bodily injury or death to the officer or of serious harm to the officer's mental health or well-being. The bill authorizes the division to award a grant to a law enforcement agency for the agency to provide critical incident stress debriefing to peace officers employed by the agency or to award a grant to any other agency or organization to assist the agency or organization in providing support for the grant program as determined necessary by the division.
C.S.H.B. 2467 requires a law enforcement agency that receives a grant under the bill's provisions to inform each peace officer employed by the agency about the program and, if the officer participates in the program, about certain related confidentiality protections. The bill requires such a law enforcement agency to certify in writing that the agency will not use disciplinary action or any other form of punishment, including the refusal of a promotion, to discourage or prohibit an officer's participation in the critical incident stress debriefing offered by the agency. The bill subjects critical incident stress debriefing provided using money distributed under the grant program to the confidentiality protections provided under Health and Safety Code provisions relating to critical incident stress management and crisis response services. The bill requires the division to establish eligibility criteria for grant applicants, grant application procedures, procedures for evaluating grant applications, the minimum qualifications necessary for a person to conduct critical incident stress debriefing that is provided using money distributed under the grant program, and guidance for the development of critical incident stress debriefing curricula, materials, and best practices. The bill requires the division to include in its biennial report to the legislature a detailed reporting of the results and performance of the grant program.
C.S.H.B. 2467 requires the division to establish the grant program not later than October 1, 2017, and to begin to award grants under the program not later than January 1, 2018.
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EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2017.
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COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 2467 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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