HB109

HB109 broadens the state-facility framework for residential treatment of certain juveniles beyond a single named center and permits a direct, one-time grant mechanism for certain funded inpatient mental-health projects. It does not itself appropriate construction money or guarantee an available treatment bed. Signed June 20, 2025, it took effect September 1, 2025. Final law; official history.

Previously, the admission provision specified the Waco Center for Youth. The revised provision directs the Department of State Health Services to designate state facilities for residential treatment of juveniles described by the statute as emotionally disturbed. The covered groups are juveniles admitted under the state’s mental-health admission law to a department facility, and juveniles under the Department of Family and Protective Services’ managing conservatorship who are admitted under that law to a designated state facility. This is not automatic admission for every child or a general designation of private facilities. Final law, Section 2; Health and Safety Code Chapter 554.

Residents of designated facilities must receive appropriate educational services without charge, paid from funds appropriated for that purpose. A resident who does not live in the school district serving the facility’s location may receive the district’s services only with the superintendent’s prior approval. The educational-service obligation extends beyond the former Waco-specific wording; the law does not simply guarantee enrollment in any chosen district. Final law, Section 3.

The existing separate prohibition on admitting certain juveniles with delinquency or conduct-in-need-of-supervision findings to the Waco Center for Youth remains unchanged. HB109 does not rewrite that provision as a blanket ban at every newly designated facility, nor does it itself decide eligibility under every other admission rule. Chapter 554, Section 554.001(b).

For certain inpatient mental-health construction, expansion or operation projects, if the Legislature appropriates money to the Health and Human Services Commission for that purpose under the referenced authority, the commission may award it directly to an entity as a one-time grant. This supplies an optional funding mechanism; it does not award a named recipient money, set a grant amount or remove the need for a qualifying appropriation. Final law, Section 1.