CHAPTER 531. PROVISIONS GENERALLY APPLICABLE TO THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL RETARDATION
HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE
TITLE 7. MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL RETARDATION
SUBTITLE A. TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL
RETARDATION
CHAPTER 531. PROVISIONS GENERALLY APPLICABLE TO THE TEXAS
DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL RETARDATION
Sec. 531.001. PURPOSE; POLICY. (a) It is the purpose of this
subtitle to provide for the effective administration and
coordination of mental health and mental retardation services at
the state and local levels.
(b) Recognizing that a variety of alternatives for serving the
mentally disabled exists, it is the purpose of this subtitle to
ensure that a continuum of services is provided. The continuum of
services includes facilities operated by the Texas Department of
Mental Health and Mental Retardation and community services
provided by the department and other entities through contracts
with the department.
(c) It is the goal of this state to provide a comprehensive
range of services for persons with mental illness or mental
retardation who need publicly supported care, treatment, or
habilitation. In providing those services, efforts will be made
to coordinate services and programs with services and programs
provided by other governmental entities to minimize duplication
and to share with other governmental entities in financing those
services and programs.
(d) It is the policy of this state that, when appropriate and
feasible, persons with mental illness or mental retardation shall
be afforded treatment in their own communities.
(e) It is the public policy of this state that mental health and
mental retardation services be the responsibility of local
agencies and organizations to the greatest extent possible. The
department shall assist the local agencies and organizations by
coordinating the implementation of a statewide system of
services. The department shall ensure that mental health and
mental retardation services are provided. The department shall
provide technical assistance for and regulation of the programs
that receive funding through contracts with the department.
(f) It is the public policy of this state to offer services
first to those persons who are most in need. Therefore, funds
appropriated by the legislature for mental health and mental
retardation services may be spent only to provide services to the
priority populations identified in the department's long-range
plan.
(g) It is the goal of this state to establish at least one
special officer for mental health assignment in each county. To
achieve this goal, the department shall assist a local law
enforcement agency that desires to have an officer certified
under Section 1701.404, Occupations Code.
(h) It is the policy of this state that the board serves as the
state's mental health and mental retardation authority and is
responsible for the planning, policy development, and resource
development and allocation for and oversight of mental health and
mental retardation services in this state. It is the policy of
this state that, when appropriate and feasible, the board may
delegate the board's authority to a single entity in each region
of the state that may function as the local mental health or
mental retardation authority for one or more service areas in the
region.
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
1991. Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 60, Sec. 19, eff.
Sept. 1, 1993; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 821, Sec. 1, eff. Sept.
1, 1995; Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1420, Sec. 14.800, eff. Sept.
1, 2001.
Sec. 531.002. DEFINITIONS. In this subtitle:
(1) "Board" means the Texas Board of Mental Health and Mental
Retardation.
(2) "Business entity" means a sole proprietorship, partnership,
firm, corporation, holding company, joint-stock company,
receivership, trust, or any other entity recognized by law.
(3) "Chemical dependency" has the meaning assigned by Section
461.002.
(4) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of mental health and
mental retardation.
(5) "Community center" means a center established under
Subchapter A, Chapter 534.
(6) "Department" means the Texas Department of Mental Health and
Mental Retardation.
(7) "Effective administration" includes continuous planning and
evaluation within the system that result in more efficient
fulfillment of the purposes and policies of this subtitle.
(8) "ICF-MR" means the medical assistance program serving
persons with mental retardation who receive care in intermediate
care facilities.
(9) "Local agency" means:
(A) a municipality, county, hospital district, rehabilitation
district, school district, state-supported institution of higher
education, or state-supported medical school; or
(B) any organizational combination of two or more of those
entities.
(10) "Local mental health authority" means an entity to which
the board delegates its authority and responsibility within a
specified region for planning, policy development, coordination,
including coordination with criminal justice entities, and
resource development and allocation and for supervising and
ensuring the provision of mental health services to persons with
mental illness in the most appropriate and available setting to
meet individual needs in one or more local service areas.
(11) "Local mental retardation authority" means an entity to
which the board delegates its authority and responsibility within
a specified region for planning, policy development,
coordination, including coordination with criminal justice
entities, and resource development and allocation and for
supervising and ensuring the provision of mental retardation
services to persons with mental retardation in the most
appropriate and available setting to meet individual needs in one
or more local service areas.
(12) "Mental health services" includes all services concerned
with research, prevention, and detection of mental disorders and
disabilities, and all services necessary to treat, care for,
control, supervise, and rehabilitate persons who have a mental
disorder or disability, including persons whose mental disorders
or disabilities result from alcoholism or drug addiction.
(13) "Mental retardation services" includes all services
concerned with research, prevention, and detection of mental
retardation, and all services related to the education, training,
habilitation, care, treatment, supervision, and control of
persons with mental retardation, but does not include the
education of school-age persons that the public educational
system is authorized to provide.
(13-a) "Person with a developmental disability" means an
individual with a severe, chronic disability attributable to a
mental or physical impairment or a combination of mental and
physical impairments that:
(A) manifests before the person reaches 22 years of age;
(B) is likely to continue indefinitely;
(C) reflects the individual's need for a combination and
sequence of special, interdisciplinary, or generic services,
individualized supports, or other forms of assistance that are of
a lifelong or extended duration and are individually planned and
coordinated; and
(D) results in substantial functional limitations in three or
more of the following categories of major life activity:
(i) self-care;
(ii) receptive and expressive language;
(iii) learning;
(iv) mobility;
(v) self-direction;
(vi) capacity for independent living; and
(vii) economic self-sufficiency.
(14) "Person with mental retardation" means a person, other than
a person with a mental disorder, whose mental deficit requires
the person to have special training, education, supervision,
treatment, care, or control in the person's home or community or
in a state school.
(15) "Priority population" means those groups of persons with
mental illness or mental retardation identified by the department
as being most in need of mental health or mental retardation
services.
(16) "Region" means the area within the boundaries of the local
agencies participating in the operation of community centers
established under Subchapter A, Chapter 534.
(17) "State supported living center" means a state-supported and
structured residential facility operated by the Department of
Aging and Disability Services to provide to clients with mental
retardation a variety of services, including medical treatment,
specialized therapy, and training in the acquisition of personal,
social, and vocational skills.
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
1991. Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 107, Sec. 6.01, eff.
Aug. 30, 1993; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 821, Sec. 2, eff. Sept.
1, 1995; Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 367, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
2001.
Amended by:
Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch.
284, Sec. 17, eff. June 11, 2009.
Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch.
1292, Sec. 1, eff. June 19, 2009.
Sec. 531.0021. REFERENCE TO STATE SCHOOL OR SUPERINTENDENT. (a)
A reference in law to a "state school" means a state supported
living center.
(b) A reference in law to a "superintendent," to the extent the
term is intended to refer to the person in charge of a state
supported living center, means the director of a state supported
living center.
Added by Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch.
284, Sec. 18, eff. June 11, 2009.