SB 30 would direct nearly $3 billion to improve mental health facilities in Texas, build new ones

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is backing a Senate bill that would increase funding and access to mental health services.

AUSTIN, Texas - Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is backing a Senate bill that would increase funding and access to mental health services.

That includes pumping billions of dollars to improving existing mental health facilities and building new ones.

Right now, in the Dallas County Jail, officials said there's 400 mental health inmates waiting to be transferred to a state facility.

The proposal announced Thursday in the Senate would invest billions into mental health, but it’ll take time.

"We need to do more because we do not have enough beds to meet the need," Patrick said.

After mass shootings like the one in Uvalde, the topic of mental health funding has become a bipartisan issue.

The problem isn’t just with certain shootings, but it also exists in those struggling with addiction and other issues.

Thursday, Lt. Gov. Patrick and Senate Health and Human Services Chair Lois Kolkhorst announced Senate Bill 30, which plans to build new mental health facilities and expand the number of beds in existing facilities across the state.

"When we sat down and really looked at what is the waitlist, define who cannot get a bed right now, it was shocking," Kolkhorst said. "It was absolutely shocking that out of almost 2,500 people that were waiting on the bed list, all but 73 were waiting for forensic beds."

Patrick said county jails are being hit the hardest because of the lack of beds.

"We are a temporary holding and it’s nothing temporary about two years, nothing," Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price said.

Price said the county has about 400 people waiting to be transferred to a mental health facility.

He said those who are convicted of misdemeanors are released back into the community after their short sentence, without getting the real care they need.

And those with felonies who are ruled incompetent are supposed to go to state facilities.

"We are trying to transfer to the nearest facility, which is primarily Terrell. Right now, not only from a facility standpoint and bed standpoint, but from a workforce standpoint, they’ve got challenges," he said.

SB 30 would direct nearly $3 billion to improving facilities, like the one in Terrell, and building new ones in rural areas.

Last year, UT-Southwestern broke ground on a state-run psychiatric hospital.

The behavior health center would hold nearly 300 beds.

Construction is expected to be completed in 2025.

While the proposal would take a big step forward in Texas' future mental health investment, right now, county jails will still tread water until help arrives.

"We do what we can to restore them as best we can, but that is the obligation of the state," Price said.

"You have to start, and so this is the big start," Patrick said.

The bill would also provide a nearly 40% raise for certain state mental health workers.

Thursday, the Senate unanimously passed a bill that would use $15 million to expand mental health treatment options for children and families.