LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
 
FISCAL NOTE, 86TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION
 
March 22, 2019

TO:
Honorable Senfronia Thompson, Chair, House Committee on Public Health
 
FROM:
John McGeady, Assistant Director     Sarah Keyton, Assistant Director
Legislative Budget Board
 
IN RE:
HB906 by Thompson, Senfronia (Relating to the establishment of a collaborative task force to study certain public school mental health services.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

It is assumed that the provisions of the bill relating to the creation of a collaborative task force on public school mental health services could be absorbed using existing resources.

The provisions of the bill requiring the appointment of members to the task force in addition to the commissioner, and the selection of the task force's officers, would have no fiscal implication to the state. The bill specifies that members of the task force may not receive compensation or reimbursement for service on the task force.

The provision of the bill requiring the commissioner of the task force to designate one institution of higher education with experience in evaluating mental health services to serve as the lead institution for the task force would incur some costs to the institution that is designated. This institution would be required to provide faculty, staff, and administrative support services to the task force as determined necessary to administer the provisions of the bill. The lead institution would lead the task force in its charges to gather data on individuals provided with mental health services; to study, evaluate, and make recommendations on mental health services, including academic, disciplinary, and personal outcomes; and to submit biennial reports on the task force's activities.

Cost estimates of serving as the lead institution of the task force vary by institution. An illustrative example of likely costs is The University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHSC) at San Antonio. In total, the institution estimates that the 5-year cost of the task force would be $1,309,390. This estimate assumes that the task force would be abolished and the subchapter would expire on December 1, 2025, per Section 38.311.

The provision of the bill requiring the commissioner to designate two other institution of higher education to assist the lead institution in its responsibilities could be absorbed using existing resources.

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) assumes the provisions of the bill could be implemented within existing resources.

Local Government Impact

TEA assumes the bill would require school districts and charter schools to incur costs to collect and monitor additional data for reporting to the task force regarding mental health services and training provided.


Source Agencies:
701 Texas Education Agency, 720 The University of Texas System Administration, 710 Texas A&M University System Administrative and General Offices, 758 Texas State University System, 768 Texas Tech University System Administration, 769 University of North Texas System Administration, 781 Higher Education Coordinating Board, 783 University of Houston System Administration
LBB Staff:
WP, AKi, DEH, TSI, AM, ASa