By: Coleman H.B. No. 4110

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to grants to establish or expand community collaboratives for services to persons experiencing homelessness or mental illness and county government planning for community collaboratives.

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

SECTION 1. Section 539.002, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 539.002. GRANTS FOR ESTABLISHMENT AND EXPANSION OF COMMUNITY COLLABORATIVES. (a) To the extent funds are appropriated to the department for that purpose, the department shall make grants to entities, including local governmental entities, nonprofit community organizations, and faith-based community organizations, to establish or expand community collaboratives that bring the public and private sectors together to provide services to persons experiencing homelessness and mental illness. [The department may make a maximum of five grants, which must be made in the most populous municipalities in this state that are located in counties with a population of more than one million.] In awarding grants, the department shall:

(1) give special consideration to entities establishing a new collaborative[.];

(2) to collaboratives that serve multiple continues counties with individual populations below 50,000.

(b) The department shall require each entity awarded a grant under this section to:

(1) leverage additional funding from private sources in an amount that is at least equal to the amount of the grant awarded under this section; [and]

(2) provide evidence of significant coordination and collaboration between the entity, local mental health authorities, municipalities, local law enforcement agencies, and other community stakeholders in establishing or expanding a community collaborative funded by a grant awarded under this section; and

(3) provide evidence of a local law enforcement policy to divert appropriate persons from jails or other detention facilities to an entity affiliated with a community collaborative for services.

SECTION 2. Chapter 539, Government Code, is amended by adding Section 539.0051 to read as follows:

Sec. 539.0051. PLAN REQUIRED FOR CERTAIN COMMUNITY COLLABORATIVES. (a) The governing body of a county shall develop and make public a plan detailing:

(1) how local mental health authorities, municipalities, local law enforcement agencies, and other community stakeholders in the county could coordinate to establish or expand a community collaborative to accomplish the goals of Section 539.002;

(2) how entities in the county may leverage funding from private sources to accomplish the goals of Section 539.002 through the formation or expansion of a community collaborative; and

(3) how the formation or expansion of a community collaborative could establish or support resources or services to help local law enforcement agencies to divert persons who have been arrested to appropriate mental health care.

(b) The governing body of a county in which an entity that received a grant under Section 539.002 before September 1, 2017, is located is not required to develop a plan under Subsection (a);

(c) Counties with a population under 50,000 may work with multiple other counties that touch them that also have a population under 50,000 to form a joint plan.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2017.