BILL ANALYSIS

Senate Research Center	S.B. 850
	By: Blanco
	Health & Human Services
	5/11/2023
	Enrolled

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

Texas is home to over 900,000 rural students, which grows by 30,000 annually. Although rates of mental health disorders are consistent between urban and rural parts of Texas, data indicates that rural children are more likely to abuse substances and attempt suicide and are less likely to have access to behavioral health care in a mental health emergency. Texas educational service centers (ESCs) play a critical role in providing school districts with an array of services customized to the regional context of that community, including support for licensed mental health professionals' needs related to research-based best practices, developing partnerships and programming with schools, and trauma-informed care, helping foster a safe and supportive environment where children with mental health needs can receive the support they need to succeed academically and emotionally.

Texas Children's Mental Health Care Consortium (TCMHCC) was established to address urgent mental health challenges throughout the state by leveraging the expertise and capacity of mental health-related institutions. Under current law, membership on the TCMHCC includes 13 universities, the Health and Human Services Commission, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, three mental health-related nonprofits, and any other entity deemed necessary by the consortium's executive committee. However, a permanent seat for an educational service center does not exist.

C.S.S.B. 850 will add a representative from an education service center whose region encompasses mostly rural school districts to the consortium's composition to serve as the direct link between local mental health needs and access to appropriate mental health care. The bill would establish a two-year term limit for the rural ESC representative.

S.B. 850 amends current law relating to the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Section 113.0052, Health and Safety Code, as follows:

Sec. 113.0052. COMPOSITION. Provides that the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium (consortium) is composed of:

(1) certain health-related institutions of higher education;

(2)-(3) makes no changes to these subdivisions;

(4) makes a nonsubstantive change to this subdivision;

(5) each regional education service center established under Chapter 8 (Regional Education Service Centers), Education Code, that the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission (executive commission) identifies as a center predominately serving school districts classified as rural by the National Center for Education Statistics of the United States Department of Education; and

(6) makes a nonsubstantive change to this subdivision.

Deletes existing text providing that the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is among the health-related institutions of higher education that compose the consortium.

SECTION 2. Amends Section 113.0101(a), Health and Safety Code, as follows:

(a) Provides that the consortium is governed by an executive committee composed of the following members:

(1)-(5) makes no changes to these subdivisions;

(6) makes a nonsubstantive change to this subdivision;

(7) a representative selected from among the regional education service centers described by Section 113.0052(5), appointed by the executive commissioner; and

(8) makes a nonsubstantive change to this subdivision.

SECTION 3. Amends Section 113.0102, Health and Safety Code, as follows:

Sec. 113.0102. New heading: TERMS; VACANCY. (a) Requires the executive committee, except as provided by Subsection (b), to establish the terms of executive committee members and procedures for the reappointment of members.

(b) Provides that an executive committee member described by Section 113.0101(a)(7) serves a two-year term and is eligible for reappointment.

(c) Creates this subsection from existing text.

SECTION 4. Effective date: September 1, 2023.