BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 98

By: Moody

Youth Health & Safety, Select

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

While public school districts can create partnerships with outside entities to provide behavioral and mental health support for students, their efforts are hampered by the lack of a structure for the provision of mental health services within a school setting and an inability to bill Medicaid for such services. H.B. 98 seeks to address these concerns by authorizing districts to contract with a local mental health authority to deliver direct services on campus and by providing a mechanism under which districts could recover some of the costs through Medicaid.

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.

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.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 98 amends the Education Code to authorize a public school district to contract with a local mental health authority to provide mental health services on a district campus. The bill requires a contracted authority that conducts a mental health or behavioral health assessment of a student or provides mental health or behavioral health services to a student to provide to the student's primary care physician, at the request of the student's parent or guardian, the results of the assessment conducted and, if applicable, the results of any services provided. The bill requires the Health and Human Services Commission to allow a district to enroll as a provider under Medicaid to provide and receive reimbursement for the provision of mental health services to district students who are Medicaid recipients.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2023.