TO:	Honorable Tom Oliverson, Chair, House Committee on Insurance

FROM:	Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board

IN RE:	HB2595 by Price (Relating to educational materials and parity law training regarding benefits for mental health conditions and substance use disorders to be made available through a complaint portal and otherwise; designating October as mental health condition and substance use disorder parity awareness month.), As Introduced

Fiscal Year	Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
2022	$0
2023	$0
2024	$0
2025	$0
2026	$0

Fiscal Year	Probable Savings/(Cost) from Dept Ins Operating Acct 36	Probable Revenue Gain/(Loss) from Dept Ins Operating Acct 36	Change in Number of State Employees from FY 2021
2022	($3,605,276)	$3,605,276	27.0
2023	($3,345,025)	$3,345,025	25.0
2024	($3,345,025)	$3,345,025	25.0
2025	($3,345,025)	$3,345,025	25.0
2026	($3,345,025)	$3,345,025	25.0

The bill would amend the Government Code relating to educational materials and parity law training regarding benefits for mental health conditions and substance use disorders to be made available through a complaint portal, and to designate October as mental health condition and substance use disorder parity awareness month.

The bill would require training to include online, print, and in-person formats requiring the Customer Operations department to form a team of specialists to create educational materials, training and presentation materials, conduct online and in-person trainings and presentations at relevant locations and settings, including professional conference and trade association meetings, and create a webpage to include links of relevant third-party organization educational and additional parity law awareness materials.

Based on information provided by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI), the Complaint Processing section of the Customer Operations division currently maintains a complaint portal which can be modified to accommodate processing mental health parity complaints.

To develop the educational materials required in the bill, TDI has indicated the agency will need 2.0 additional FTEs (Information Specialists) to develop training content in fiscal year 2022 at a cost of $145,000 to General Revenue-Dedicated Fund 36.

To develop a prerecorded online training course that can be viewed by all behavioral health providers on-demand, and hold weekly webinars for these same providers, the agency has indicated a need of 1.0 additional FTEs (Information Specialist) at a cost of $55,000 per fiscal year to General Revenue-Dedicated Fund 36. The bill requires in-person trainings to be delivered to behavioral health providers across the state, and the agency has indicated a need for 21.0 additional FTEs (Information Specialists) to travel and train these behavioral health providers, at a cost of $1.2 million per fiscal year to General Revenue-Dedicated Fund 36.

In addition, according to the agency, TDI would require 3.0 FTEs for a management team to oversee the new program, at a cost of $250,000 per fiscal year to General Revenue-Dedicated Fund 36.

Additional costs include substantial travel related to provision of in-person behavioral health provider training, $1.3 million per fiscal year to General Revenue-Dedicated Fund 36.

Due to the self-leveling nature of the TDI operating account, any additional appropriations made from the account would be considered in the annual adjustment of the maintenance tax rates. Therefore, the overall revenue into the TDI operating account will be equal to the expenses and no net change in fund balance would occur because of this bill.

LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 87TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION


April 12, 2021