87R3214 EAS-D
 
  By: Blanco S.B. No. 539
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to a study on employing mental health professionals or
  mental health response teams to assist when responding to a
  behavioral health-related emergency call.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  (a)  In this Act:
               (1)  "Commission" means the Health and Human Services
  Commission.
               (2)  "Law enforcement agency" means an office,
  department, or other division of a political subdivision that is
  authorized to employ a law enforcement officer.
               (3)  "Law enforcement officer" means a municipal police
  officer, sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable, deputy constable,
  marshal, or deputy marshal.
               (4)  "Mental health professional" does not include a
  law enforcement officer certified to be a special officer for
  offenders with mental impairments under Section 1701.404,
  Occupations Code.
               (5)  "Mental health response team" includes:
                     (A)  a mobile crisis outreach team;
                     (B)  a mental health response model that serves as
  an alternative to traditional law enforcement and employs mental
  health professionals, whether connected to or independent of a law
  enforcement agency; and
                     (C)  a community mental health crisis call center.
         (b)  The commission shall conduct a study to evaluate the
  availability, outcomes, and efficacy of using mental health
  response teams and mental health professionals to assist in
  reducing the number of incarcerations of individuals with:
               (1)  mental illnesses;
               (2)  substance use disorders; or
               (3)  intellectual or developmental disabilities.
         (c)  In conducting the study, the commission shall evaluate
  which types of behavioral health-related emergency calls or other
  community interactions have been safely resolved wholly or partly
  by a mental health professional or mental health response team.
  Emergency calls and community interactions evaluated under this
  subsection include circumstances where a mental health
  professional or mental health response team responds to an
  emergency call in person or by telephone and when a professional or
  team responds to a behavioral health-related emergency call with a
  law enforcement officer. A safely resolved situation includes:
               (1)  preventing the incarceration of the person
  experiencing the behavioral health crisis;
               (2)  de-escalating the situation; and
               (3)  receiving positive feedback from the community.
         (d)  In conducting the study, the commission shall evaluate
  community-based outcomes of behavioral health-related emergency
  calls responded to by a mental health professional or a mental
  health response team. A community-based outcome may include:
               (1)  preventing persons with mental illness, persons
  with substance use disorders, and persons with intellectual or
  developmental disabilities from entering the criminal justice
  system;
               (2)  an increase in referrals to community resources or
  treatment options for community members with mental illness or
  substance use disorders;
               (3)  an increase in referrals described by Subdivision
  (2) that result in responsive short-term treatment or long-term
  case management; and
               (4)  an impact on the number of referrals to resources
  in the community serving persons with intellectual or developmental
  disabilities.
         (e)  The information described by Subsection (d) must be
  disaggregated by age, race, ethnicity, gender, veteran status,
  income level, whether the individual presented with a mental
  illness, whether the individual presented with a substance use
  disorder, and whether the individual presented with an intellectual
  or developmental disability.
         (f)  In conducting the study, the commission shall include an
  assessment of whether the information suggests that municipalities
  would benefit from mental health response teams assisting
  traditional law enforcement officers in efforts to:
               (1)  reduce the incarceration rates of persons with
  mental illness, substance use disorders, and intellectual or
  developmental disorders;
               (2)  increase the number of referrals to community
  resources and treatment for persons described by Subdivision (1);
               (3)  reduce the use of force when responding to
  emergency calls that involve persons described by Subdivision (1);
  and
               (4)  gain understanding about persons described by
  Subdivision (1).
         (g)  In conducting the study, the commission shall evaluate
  the fiscal and staffing implications to a law enforcement agency
  for agency use of a mental health response team to respond remotely
  to emergency calls.
         (h)  In conducting the study, the commission shall evaluate
  the impact of certain funding sources on establishing mental health
  response teams across this state, especially the impact to the
  establishment, staffing, and maintenance of those teams. Funding
  sources that the commission must consider include funding:
               (1)  from a waiver under Section 1115 of the Social
  Security Act (42 U.S.C. Section 1315);
               (2)  allocated by Chapter 528 (S.B. 292), Acts of the
  85th Legislature, Regular Session, 2017; or
               (3)  from other funding sources implemented by
  municipalities.
         (i)  The commission shall gather information for the study
  from:
               (1)  each county in this state;
               (2)  each local mental health authority in this state;
  and
               (3)  each city in this state with a population greater
  than 100,000.
         (j)  Information collected for the study must include not
  less than two years of information regarding the use of mental
  health response teams by a law enforcement agency unless the law
  enforcement agency has not been using mental health response teams
  or mental health professionals for two years.
         (k)  Not later than December 1, 2022, the commission shall
  prepare and submit to the governor and the legislature a written
  report containing the results of the study and any recommendations
  for legislative or other action, including any additional insights
  about the operation and outcomes of mental health response teams
  that the department considers significant. The commission shall
  post the report on the commission's Internet website.
         SECTION 2.  This Act expires September 1, 2023.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.