Relating to the formation of mental health and disability services regions

This bill relates to the formation of mental health and disability services regions. The bill provides that upon receiving a request from any county within a county social services mental health and disability services region to be removed from the region, the director of the department of human services may authorize the county to join with other counties requesting to be removed from the county social services mental health and disability services region in the formation of a proposed new mental health and disability services region, subject to certain requirements including that the aggregate population of all counties forming the region is at least 50,000 and includes at least one incorporated city with a population of more than 24,000 and the counties forming the region must have complied with additional criteria as specified in the bill, including the counties comprising the region are contiguous, the region must contain at least three counties, the region has the capacity to provide core services and required functions, the region must be qualified to provide psychiatric services, and the region has a hospital with an inpatient psychiatric unit or state mental health institute in the region or within close proximity. The bill provides that each county forming the region shall submit the compliance information to the director of the department of human services on or before February 1, 2021. Within days of receipt of such information, the director shall determine if the region is in full compliance and shall approve the region if the region has met all of the requirements of the bill. The bill directs the director of the department of human services to work with a county making a request that has not agreed or is unable to join the proposed new region to resolve issues preventing the county from joining the proposed new region. By February 1, 2021, the director shall assign a county making a request under the bill that has not reached an agreement to be part of the proposed new region to an existing region or to another new proposed region. If approved by the department of human services, the region shall commence full operations no later than July 1, 2021.