73rd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2005 Regular Session
NOTE: Matter within { + braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within { - braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
{ + braces and plus signs + } .
LC 1513
A-Engrossed
House Bill 2362
Ordered by the House May 16
Including House Amendments dated May 16
Sponsored by COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY (at the request of Oregon
Advocacy Center)
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure.
Creates { - task force to study - } { + interim legislative
committee to develop, with assistance of advisory committee, plan
for + } coordination of services and creation of integrated
funding of services to children with severe emotional or mental
disorders.
Sunsets { - task force - } on date of convening of next
biennial legislative session.
Declares emergency, effective on passage.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to children's mental health; and declaring an emergency.
Whereas the Legislative Assembly finds that children with
severe emotional or mental disorders and their families often
receive services from multiple service systems, including mental
health, child welfare, education, juvenile justice, health,
developmental disabilities, vocational rehabilitation and
self-sufficiency; and
Whereas services to children with severe emotional or mental
disorders are more effective when services are coordinated; and
Whereas the Legislative Assembly believes that the Department
of Human Services should substantially increase the availability
and quality of individualized, intensive and culturally competent
home- and community-based services so that these children are
served in the most natural environment possible and that the use
of institutional care is minimized; and
Whereas the State of Oregon has an interest in providing
social, educational and health services in the most
cost-effective and beneficial manner possible; and
Whereas the Legislative Assembly believes that a children's
mental health integrated fund should be established that:
(1) Allows local service decision makers to draw funding from a
single local source so that funds follow children and families
and therefore eliminate the need to match clients, funds,
services and provider eligibilities;
(2) Creates a local pool of federal, state, local and private
funds to procure greater medical assistance from federal
financial participation;
(3) Improves the efficiency of existing resources;
(4) Minimizes or eliminates the incentives for cost and risk
shifting; and
(5) Increases the incentives for earlier identification of and
intervention with children with severe emotional or mental
disorders; now, therefore,
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. { + (1) As used in this section, 'children with
severe emotional or mental disorders' means children who have
been:
(a) Admitted to or who are at risk of being admitted to
inpatient, residential or day treatment for a severe emotional or
mental disorder; or
(b) Diagnosed by a qualified mental health professional as
having:
(A) A severe emotional or mental disorder described in a
diagnostic manual published by the American Psychiatric
Association;
(B) A risk of harming themselves or harming others as a result
of a severe emotional or mental disorder;
(C) Psychopathological symptoms as a result of being a victim
of physical or sexual abuse or psychic trauma; or
(D) Psychopathological symptoms related to fetal exposure to
alcohol or controlled substances.
(2) There is created the Interim Committee on Development of a
Child and Family System of Care consisting of four members
appointed as follows:
(a) The President of the Senate shall appoint two members from
among members of the Senate.
(b) The Speaker of the House of Representatives shall appoint
two members from among members of the House of Representatives.
(3) The purpose of the interim committee is to develop a
coordinated plan that focuses on children who have or who are at
risk of developing severe emotional or mental disorders that
affect the children's abilities to function in the primary
aspects of daily life, including personal relations, living
arrangements, work, school or recreation and who would benefit
from coordination of services, including mental and physical
health services, juvenile justice, child welfare and education.
(4) In carrying out its purpose, the interim committee shall
design the development and implementation of:
(a) A children's mental health integrated fund that pools
local, state, federal and private resources and consolidates the
resources at the local level to accomplish locally agreed-upon
service goals for children with severe emotional or mental
disorders. The fund would help local children's mental health
collaboratives serve the mental health needs of these children by
allowing local children's mental health collaboratives to develop
and implement an integrated service system.
(b) An integrated service system that coordinates a set of
procedures established by local children's mental health
collaboratives for coordinating services and actions across
categorical systems and agencies to result in:
(A) Integrated funding;
(B) Improved outreach, early identification and intervention
across systems of care for children with severe emotional or
mental disorders;
(C) Strong collaboration between parents and professionals in
identifying children with severe emotional or mental disorders,
facilitating access to the integrated system and coordinating
care and services for these children;
(D) A coordinated assessment process across systems of care
that determines the children who need multiagency care
coordination and wraparound services;
(E) A coordinated multiagency plan of care; and
(F) Individualized treatment, support and rehabilitation
services for children with severe emotional or mental disorders.
(c) The formation of a local children's mental health
collaborative under an agreement of representatives from each
local system of care, including mental health services, child
welfare, juvenile justice, education and health services,
disabilities and vocational services, for the purpose of
developing and governing an integrated service system and
administering the local integrated fund.
(5) The interim committee may consult with:
(a) Local, state and national experts on child and family
systems of care; and
(b) Experts in states that have adopted a system for providing
services to children with severe emotional or mental disorders
that incorporates an integrated fund, an integrated service
system and a children's mental health collaborative.
(6) The interim committee shall appoint an advisory committee
to assist the interim committee in carrying out its purpose as
described in subsection (3) of this section. Persons appointed to
the advisory committee shall:
(a) Have expertise related to the public funding and provision
of general and special education, child welfare, juvenile
justice, child and family mental health, developmental
disabilities or children's health care services; or
(b) Have experience caring for or advocating on behalf of
children with severe emotional or mental disorders who are
involved in multiple public systems.
(7) Persons appointed to the advisory committee are not
entitled to compensation or reimbursement for expenses and serve
as volunteers on the advisory committee.
(8) The President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of
Representatives shall select one member of the interim committee
to serve as chairperson and another to serve as vice chairperson,
with the duties and powers necessary for the performance of the
functions of the offices as the President and the Speaker
determine.
(9) A majority of the members of the interim committee
constitutes a quorum for the transaction of business.
(10) Official action by the interim committee requires the
approval of a majority of the members of the interim committee.
(11) If there is a vacancy for any cause, the appointing
authority shall make an appointment to become immediately
effective.
(12) The interim committee shall meet at times and places
specified by the call of the chairperson or of a majority of the
members of the interim committee.
(13) The interim committee may adopt rules necessary for the
operation of the interim committee.
(14) The interim committee shall report to the Legislative
Assembly in the manner provided in ORS 192.245 at any time within
30 days after its final meeting or at such later time as the
President and Speaker may designate.
(15) The Legislative Administrator may employ persons necessary
for the performance of the functions of the interim committee.
The Legislative Administrator shall fix the duties and amounts of
compensation of these employees. The interim committee shall use
the services of permanent legislative staff to the greatest
extent practicable.
(16) All agencies of state government, as defined in ORS
174.111, are directed to assist the interim committee in the
performance of its duties and, to the extent permitted by laws
relating to confidentiality, to furnish such information and
advice as the members of the interim committee consider necessary
to perform their duties. + }
SECTION 2. { + Section 1 of this 2005 Act is repealed on the
date of the convening of the next regular biennial legislative
session. + }
SECTION 3. { + This 2005 Act being necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency
is declared to exist, and this 2005 Act takes effect on its
passage. + }
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