Sec. 531.09935. GRANT PROGRAM TO REDUCE RECIDIVISM, ARREST, AND INCARCERATION AMONG INDIVIDUALS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS AND TO REDUCE WAIT TIME FOR FORENSIC COMMITMENT IN MOST POPULOUS COUNTY. (a) The commission shall establish a program to provide a grant to a county-based community collaborative in the most populous county in this state for the purposes of reducing:

(1) recidivism by, the frequency of arrests of, and incarceration of persons with mental illness; and

(2) the total waiting time for forensic commitment of persons with mental illness to a state hospital.

(b) The community collaborative may receive a grant under the program only if the collaborative includes the county, a local mental health authority that operates in the county, and each hospital district located in the county. A community collaborative may include other local entities designated by the collaborative's members.

(c) Not later than the 30th day of each fiscal year, the commission shall make available to the community collaborative established in the county described by Subsection (a) a grant in an amount equal to the lesser of:

(1) the amount appropriated to the commission for that fiscal year for a mental health jail diversion pilot program in that county; or

(2) the collaborative's available matching funds.

(d) The commission shall condition a grant provided to the community collaborative under this section on the collaborative providing funds from non-state sources in a total amount at least equal to the grant amount.

(e) To raise the required non-state sourced funds, the collaborative may seek and receive gifts, grants, or donations from any person.

(f) Acceptable uses for the grant money and matching funds include:

(1) the continuation of a mental health jail diversion program;

(2) the establishment or expansion of a mental health jail diversion program;

(3) the establishment of alternatives to competency restoration in a state hospital, including outpatient competency restoration, inpatient competency restoration in a setting other than a state hospital, or jail-based competency restoration;

(4) the provision of assertive community treatment or forensic assertive community treatment with an outreach component;

(5) the provision of intensive mental health services and substance abuse treatment not readily available in the county;

(6) the provision of continuity of care services for an individual being released from a state hospital;

(7) the establishment of interdisciplinary rapid response teams to reduce law enforcement's involvement with mental health emergencies; and

(8) the provision of local community hospital, crisis, respite, or residential beds.

(g) Not later than the 90th day after the last day of the state fiscal year for which the commission distributes a grant under this section, the community collaborative shall prepare and submit a report describing the effect of the grant money and matching funds in fulfilling the purpose described by Subsection (a).

(h) The commission may make inspections of the operation and provision of mental health services provided by the community collaborative to ensure state money appropriated for the grant program is used effectively.

Added by Acts 2017, 85th Leg., R.S., Ch. 528 (S.B. 292), Sec. 2, eff. September 1, 2017.