Bill
SB 292
85(R) - 2017
Senate Health & Human Services
House Public Health
Senate Health & Human Services
House Public Health
Health & Human Services
Vote Recommendation
Neutral
-
Neutral
-
Neutral
-
Neutral
-
Neutral
-
Neutral
Author(s)
Joan Huffman
Co-Author(s)
Jane Nelson
Charles Schwertner
Kirk Watson
Sponsor(s)
Four Price
Co-Sponsor(s)
Garnet F. Coleman
Bill Caption
Relating to the creation of a grant program to reduce recidivism,
arrest, and incarceration of individuals with mental illness.
Fiscal Notes
From the LBB: Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related
Funds for SB 292, Committee Report 2nd House, Substituted: a negative impact of
($18,801,600) through the biennium ending August 31, 2019. The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the
legal basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the
bill.
Bill Analysis
This bill would create a new grant program with the purpose of reducing recidivism, arrest, and incarceration among individuals with mental illness by providing grants to county-based community collaboratives. Under this bill a collaborative "may petition the commission
for a grant under the program only if the collaborative includes a
county, a local mental health authority that operates in the
county, and each hospital district, if any, located in the county.
A community collaborative may include other local entities
designated by the collaborative ’s members."
Vote Recommendation Notes
The cost of mental health treatment often ends up being picked up by the taxpayers because the mentally ill often become incarcerated, institutionalized, or homeless. It is foreseeable that funding county-level programs that can intervene and treat people at an earlier stage may lead to better outcomes for individuals and lower costs to taxpayers in the long run. At the same time we note that these savings are somewhat speculative and we are wary of new programs to spend more state money. For these reasons we remain neutral.