Bill Text: TX HB2619 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relating to grant programs to maintain peace officers' mental health and provide critical incident stress debriefing for certain officers.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-2)

Status: (Passed) 2017-06-09 - Effective on 9/1/17 [HB2619 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-HB2619-Introduced.html

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85R11232 SMT-D
By: Giddings H.B. No. 2619

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a grant program administered by the governor's criminal
justice division to implement practices to maintain peace officers'
mental health.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 772, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 772.0073 to read as follows:
Sec. 772.0073. PEACE OFFICER MENTAL HEALTH GRANT PROGRAM.
(a) In this section:
(1) "Law enforcement agency" means an agency of the
state or an agency of a political subdivision of the state
authorized by law to employ peace officers.
(2) "Criminal justice division" means the criminal
justice division established under Section 772.006.
(b) The criminal justice division shall establish and
administer a grant program through which a law enforcement agency
may apply for a grant to implement practices designed to maintain
the mental health of peace officers employed by the law enforcement
agency.
(c) The criminal justice division shall establish:
(1) eligibility criteria for grant applicants;
(2) grant application procedures;
(3) guidelines relating to grant amounts;
(4) procedures for evaluating grant applications; and
(5) procedures for monitoring the use of a grant
awarded under the program and ensuring compliance with any
conditions of a grant.
(d) The criminal justice division shall evaluate and
compare the practices implemented by each law enforcement agency
that receives a grant under this section to determine the most
successful practices for maintaining the mental health of peace
officers.
(e) The criminal justice division may contract with a third
party to conduct the evaluations and comparison described by
Subsection (d).
(f) The criminal justice division shall include in the
biennial report required by Section 772.006(a)(9) a detailed
reporting of the results and performance of the grant program
administered under this section.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.