BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 2487

By: Parker

Public Health

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The bill sponsor has informed the committee that populous urban areas in Texas are facing a growing homelessness crisis, often accompanied by substance abuse, mental illness, and limited access to stable housing, causing these areas to struggle to find effective alternatives to jails, emergency rooms, and other overburdened institutions which are ill-equipped to address housing instability. The bill sponsor has further informed the committee that programs such as San Antonio's Haven for Hope demonstrate that combining immediate crisis stabilization with comprehensive housing services can significantly reduce chronic homelessness and lower public costs. S.B. 2487 seeks to enhance the procedures and infrastructure for providing crisis and mental health services in populous counties.

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

Crisis Service Models

Establishment of Crisis Service Models

S.B. 2487 amends the Health and Safety Code to authorize a county with a population of more than 1.2 million to establish a crisis service model to provide comprehensive crisis and mental health services, including the following:

· crisis intervention and stabilization services 24 hours a day, seven days a week;

· short-term residential care;

· medical detoxification;

· care coordination services for individuals who would benefit from ongoing treatment, housing, or other community resources after being released from a crisis service center;

· specialized services for individuals experiencing homelessness, consistent with an integrated continuum of care program, including coordination with appropriate emergency shelters, coordinated entry systems, rapid rehousing programs, and permanent supportive housing units; and

· crisis follow-up services.

The bill authorizes a crisis service model to encompass one or more facilities in the county to provide these services. The bill prohibits any facility established under the bill's provisions from being located in the central business district of a municipality.

S.B. 2487 authorizes a county utilizing a crisis service model to do the following:

· employ non-physician mental health professionals, including individuals authorized to provide mental health services to individuals transported to the center for involuntary commitment under provisions relating to emergency detention and under provisions relating to court-ordered mental health services; or

· contract with a qualified third-party vendor to provide those services.

The bill requires law enforcement agencies and emergency medical services providers to ensure coordination with a county's crisis service model to prioritize transporting individuals experiencing a crisis to a designated facility that provides crisis services instead of to a more restrictive setting, as appropriate. Not later than 48 hours after the initial intervention, an individual must be provided with crisis follow-up services, which must include a reassessment of risk, safety planning, and connecting the individual to mental health and housing services through the crisis service model or a third-party vendor contracted by the county.

Homelessness Services Coordination

S.B. 2487 requires a county that establishes a crisis service model under the bill's provisions to ensure that an individual who contacts or receives treatment from a crisis service center is provided access to ongoing care through collaboration with homelessness service providers, municipalities within the county, and a continuum of care program. The bill requires the collaboration to include the following:

· coordination with available housing services for individuals after leaving the crisis service center's care;

· providing or facilitating a coordinated intake into a continuum of care program, enabling individuals experiencing homelessness to access homelessness services and housing support through the crisis service model; and

· case management and housing navigation assistance services to connect and refer individuals experiencing homelessness to available long-term support services.

The bill defines "continuum of care program" as a program administered by HUD to assist individuals experiencing homelessness and provide the services needed to help those individuals move into transitional and permanent housing, with the goal of long-term stability.

Funding

S.B. 2487 authorizes a county to solicit and accept gifts, grants, and donations from any source to support the county in establishing and operating a crisis service model.

Report

S.B. 2487 requires a county that establishes a crisis service model to prepare and submit to the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) and the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs a report not later than October 1 of each even-numbered year, a report, as follows:

· covering the outcomes of individuals who received services from a crisis service center in the county;

· providing information related to the results of operating a crisis service model in the county, including any reductions in homelessness, homelessness services program enrollments, mental health program enrollments, behavioral health program enrollments, exits to housing, crime reduction, harm reduction, number of re-entries into the crisis service center, or other county-wide effects;

· evaluating the provision of related services in the county, including the stability of available housing services; and

· detailing any recommendations for legislative or other action.

Crisis Service Center Advisory Board

S.B. 2487 requires each crisis service model to have an advisory board and establishes the composition of the advisory board as follows:

· four individuals residing in the county of the crisis service model appointed by the governor;

· a representative appointed by the county's commissioners court;

· a representative appointed by the most populous municipality in the county; and

· a representative of a continuum of care program appointed by the county's commissioners court.

Emergency Detention

Initial Examination

S.B. 2487 requires a non-physician mental health professional to examine a person who arrives at a facility providing crisis and mental health services as part of the crisis service model, as established in an applicable county under the bill's provisions, within 30 minutes of the person's arrival if, as follows:

· an application for detention has been filed for the person; or

· a peace officer, or emergency medical services personnel of an emergency medical services provider transporting the person in accordance with a memorandum of understanding executed for emergency detention under applicable state law, files a notification of detention completed by the peace officer under applicable state law.

The bill authorizes a facility providing crisis and mental health services as part of a crisis service model, as established in an applicable county under the bill's provisions, to detain the person if the person has rejected voluntary mental health services and, as a result of the initial examination and materials provided for the application for detention or notification of detention under the bill's provisions, as applicable, the non-physician mental health professional has a reasonable cause to believe and does believe that the person is a person with mental illness and because of that mental illness there is a substantial risk of serious harm to the person or to others unless the person is immediately detained.

Preliminary Examination

S.B. 2487 establishes that a facility providing crisis and mental health services as part of a crisis service model established in an applicable county under the bill's provisions may temporarily accept a person for a preliminary examination only after an initial examination has been conducted as provided under the bill's provisions.

Release from Emergency Detention

S.B. 2487 establishes that a person apprehended by a peace officer or transported for emergency detention by a guardian under applicable state law or detained under a judge's or magistrate's order for emergency apprehension and detention under applicable state law must be released on completion of the initial examination, unless the person is detained under the bill's provision applicable to a facility providing crisis and mental health services as part of a crisis service model established in an applicable county under the bill's provisions. Upon a person's release from a facility following the initial examination or the preliminary examination, the person must receive a formal referral to outpatient or community-based mental health treatment services.

S.B. 2487 applies to an emergency detention that begins on or after the bill's effective date. An emergency detention that begins before the bill's effective date is governed by the law as it existed immediately before that date, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose. Implementation of a provision of this bill by HHSC is mandatory only if a specific appropriation is made for that purpose.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.