Senate Health and Human Services Committee on CSSB 200

Testimony to Senate Health and Human Services Committee

Preserving State Efforts to Improve Services to Children with Mental Illness & Elevating Prevention and Early Intervention Services across Systems

RECOMMENDATIONS RELATED TO CHILDREN’S MENTAL HEALTH:

1. Amend C.S.S.B. 200 to include provisions within SB 1891 by Senator Zaffirini to amend Sections 531.251 and 531.252 of the Government Code to require the Health and Human Services Commission to assume responsibility of the duties it now shares with the Texas System of Care Consortium related to improving access to services to youth with serious emotional disturbance and their families. C.S.S.B 200 eliminates other advisory bodies, such as the Texas Council on Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders and the executive committee of the Office for the Prevention of Developmental Disabilities, while assigning various duties of these groups to the commission in order to ensure their work continues.

With one in ten children having a mental illness that significantly disrupts their life, it is critical for Texas to maintain activities to improve the planning and delivery of services to this population across the multiple systems that serve them.

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