BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 850

By: Blanco

Youth Health & Safety, Select

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), studies have found that youth in rural counties have access to fewer mental health services than those in urban and suburban counties. The 86th Texas Legislature established the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium to address urgent mental health challenges throughout Texas by leveraging the expertise and capacity of mental health-related institutions. The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center has requested to be removed from the consortium membership, as they do not provide mental health services. S.B. 850 seeks to address these issues by removing The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center from the consortium's composition and instead adding rural regional education service centers (ESCs) to the consortium's composition. The bill also provides for the inclusion of rural ESCs on the consortium's executive committee.

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

S.B. 850 amends the Health and Safety Code to revise the composition of the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium as follows:

· includes in the consortium's composition each regional education service center established under the Education Code that the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission identifies as a center predominately serving public school districts classified as rural by the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education; and

· removes The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center from the consortium's composition.

The bill includes a representative selected from among the appointed rural regional education service centers in the composition of the executive committee that governs the consortium and establishes that this representative serves a two-year term and is eligible for reappointment. The bill requires the executive committee to establish the terms of the other executive committee members and procedures for the reappointment of members.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2023.