BILL ANALYSIS

Senate Research Center	C.S.S.B. 2487
	By: Parker
	State Affairs
	4/24/2025
	Committee Report (Substituted)

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

Cities across Texas have faced a rising crisis of homelessness that often intersects with mental illness, substance use, and limited access to stable housing. Large urban counties, in particular, have struggled to find effective alternatives to traditional emergency departments, jails, and other overburdened institutions ill-equipped to address the interplay of housing instability and behavioral health needs. Programs like San Antonio's Haven for Hope demonstrate that merging immediate crisis stabilization with comprehensive housing services can greatly reduce repeated homelessness and lower public costs.

S.B. 2487 proposes a targeted response for counties with populations exceeding 1.2 million. The bill mandates the establishment of 24/7 Crisis Service Centers dedicated to mental health assessment, crisis stabilization, detox services, and robust follow-up care�explicitly emphasizing linkages to housing services. S.B. 2487 sets up a new emergency detention process for these centers: if a police officer or crisis response worker determines someone is a substantial risk to themselves or others and has a mental illness, they can detain the individual and bring them to the 24/7 Crisis Service Center. Upon arrival, the individual will be evaluated by a mental health professional onsite for the same criteria, giving an additional layer of protection and due process to the individual. If determined by this mental health professional to be a substantial risk to themselves or others and to have a mental illness, the individual is then detained for no more than 24 hours for a physician examination to evaluate whether the individual is a candidate for civil commitment. If determined to be so, the current commitment process is triggered and the case is brought before a probate judge. By raising the physician examination window from 12 hours to 24 hours and requiring immediate coordination with homelessness service providers and continuum-of-care networks, S.B. 2487 ensures that those experiencing mental health crises are not simply discharged back onto the streets due to lack of medical attention. Instead, they receive the coordinated support necessary to attain longer-term stability and prevent further cycles of homelessness. Through ongoing outcome reporting, enhanced collaboration among mental health professionals, law enforcement, and housing programs, this legislation aims to streamline interventions, reduce the strain on emergency rooms and encampments, and meaningfully curtail chronic homelessness in Texas' largest urban settings.

(Original Author's/Sponsor's Statement of Intent)

C.S.S.B. 2487 amends current law relating to procedures for and certain facilities providing crisis and mental health services.

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 Subchapter C, Chapter 573, Health and Safety Code, by adding Section 573.020, as follows:

Sec. 573.020. INITIAL EXAMINATION. (a) Requires a non-physician mental health professional to examine a person who arrives at a facility established under Section 580.003 within 30 minutes of the person's arrival if:

(1) an application for detention has been filed for the person; or

(2) 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 under Section 573.005 (Transportation For Emergency Detention by Emergency Medical Services Provider; Memorandum of Understanding), files a notification of detention completed by the peace officer under Section 573.002(a) (relating to the requirement that a peace officer file with a facility a notification of detention).

(b) Authorizes a facility established under Section 580.003 to detain the person if the person has rejected voluntary mental health services and as a result of the initial examination conducted under this section and materials provided for the application for detention or notification of detention under Subsection (a)(1) or (2), 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.

SECTION 2. Amends Sections 573.021(a) and (c), Health and Safety Code, as follows:

(a) Requires a facility established under Section 580.003, following an initial examination under Section 573.020, to temporarily accept a person for whom an application for detention is filed or for whom 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 under Section 573.005 files a notification of detention completed by the peace officer under Section 573.002(a). Makes a nonsubstantive change.

(c) Requires a physician to examine the person accepted for a preliminary examination as soon as possible within 12 hours after the time the person is apprehended by the peace officer or transported for emergency detention by the person's guardian.

SECTION 3. Amends Section 573.023, Health and Safety Code, by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (a-1), as follows:

(a) Requires a person apprehended by a peace officer or transported for emergency detention under Subchapter A (Apprehension by Peace Officer or Transportation For Emergency Detention by Guardian) or detained under Subchapter B (Judge's or Magistrate's Order For Emergency Apprehension and Detention) to be released on completion of:

(1) the initial examination, unless the person is detained under Section 573.020(b); or

(2) creates this subdivision from existing text and makes a nonsubstantive change.

(a-1) Requires a person, upon the person's release from a facility under Subsection (a), to receive information regarding available outpatient or community-based mental health treatment services.

SECTION 4. Amends Subtitle C, Title 7, Health and Safety Code, by adding Chapter 580, as follows:

CHAPTER 580. CRISIS SERVICE CENTERS

Sec. 580.001. DEFINITIONS. Defines "commission" and "continuum of care program."

Sec. 580.002. APPLICABILITY. Provides that this chapter applies only to a county with a population of more than 1.2 million.

Sec. 580.003. ESTABLISHMENT OF CRISIS SERVICE CENTERS. (a) Requires a county to which this chapter applies to establish a crisis service center to provide certain comprehensive crisis and mental health services.

(a-1) Authorizes a crisis service model to encompass one or more facilities in the county to provide services as described by Subsection (a).

(a-2) Prohibits any facility established under this chapter from being located in the central business district of a municipality.

(b) Authorizes a crisis service center to employ non-physician mental health professionals, including individuals authorized to provide mental health services to individuals transported to the center for involuntary commitment under Chapters 573 (Emergency Detention) and 574 (Court-Ordered Mental Health Services) or contract with a qualified third-party vendor to provide those services.

(c) 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 established under this section that provides crisis services instead of to a more restrictive setting, as appropriate.

(d) Requires an individual, not later than 48 hours after the initial intervention, to be provided with crisis follow-up services, which are required to include a reassessment of risk, safety planning, and connecting the individual to mental health and housing services through the crisis model or a third-party vendor contracted by the county.

(e) Requires the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to provide assistance to a county to establish and operate a crisis service center under this chapter.

(f) Authorizes a county to coordinate with the Texas Facilities Commission (TFC), in coordination with applicable state agencies or departments, concerning state-owned land or facilities available for establishing a crisis service center. Authorizes TFC or the applicable agency or department to lease to a county real property or an improvement for the sole purpose of establishing a crisis service center to provide the services described by Subsection (a). Authorizes the lease to be entered into at less than the prevailing rate and without advertisement or competitive bidding.

Sec. 580.004. HOMELESSNESS SERVICES COORDINATION. Requires a county 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. Requires that the collaboration include 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.

Sec. 580.005. FUNDING. (a) Authorizes HHSC to solicit and accept gifts, grants, and donations from any source to support counties establishing and operating a crisis service center under this chapter.

(b) Requires a county, to qualify for funding from HHSC, to submit a comprehensive plan for a crisis service center to HHSC describing how the crisis service center will meet the requirements established under Sections 580.003 and 580.004.

Sec. 580.006. REPORTS. Requires a county to prepare and submit to HHSC and the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs quarterly reports evaluating certain outcomes and providing recommendations.

Sec. 580.007. CRISIS SERVICE CENTER ADVISORY BOARD. (a) Requires each crisis service model to have an advisory board.

(b) Provides that the advisory board is composed of four individuals residing in the county of the crisis service model appointed by the governor, a representative appointed by the county 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 commissioners court.

SECTION 5. Makes application of Chapter 573, Health and Safety Code, prospective.

SECTION 6.� (a)� Requires a county to which Chapter 580, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, applies, not later than September 1, 2028, to establish a crisis service center as required by Section 580.003, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act.

(b)� Requires a county to which Chapter 580, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, applies, not later than January 1, 2029, to provide the initial report required by Section 580.006, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act.

SECTION 7.� Effective date: September 1, 2025.