House Bill 2377 Pilot

House Bill 2377, passed by the 74th session of the Legislature was impetus for a major shift in the way we conceptualize the role of the local community mental health and mental retardation centers in Texas. H.B. 2377 directed the community center as a local authority to "consider public input, ultimate cost benefit, and client care issues to ensure consumer choice and best use of public money in:

1) assembling a network of service providers; and
2) determining whether to become a provider of a service or to contract that service to another organization."

Informed by the guidance of H.B. 2377, the new challenge for community MH centers as local authorities was  to  engage successfully the local community in planning, assembling, and managing the performance of a network of providers which offers the greatest value in the provision of services and supports for people with mental illness or mental retardation in a manner which reflects the highest integrity and stewardship over public resources.

The new role for community centers as local authorities demanded new skills and technologies. The department  worked in tandem with community center trustees, staff, and consumers to develop the tools to successfully carry out this mission.

Since the program's inception, the legislature has required periodic reports on these and related efforts to delegate to a local authority the responsibility for planning, coordination and oversight of mental health and mental retardation services .  Below are links to these reports.

HB 2377 REPORTS TO THE LEGISLATURE:

September 1998 Report (25kb)
January 1999 Report (17kb)
February 2000 Report (22kb)
August 2000 Report (20kb)
February 2001 Report (24kb)
September 2001 Report (25kb)
January 2002 Report (25kb)
January 2003 Report (30KB)
January 2004 Report (16kb)
January 2005 Report (26kb)

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This page was last modified January 12, 2007