1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to human services; modifying discharge plans 
  1.3             for offenders with serious and persistent mental 
  1.4             illness; clarifying eligibility for medical assistance 
  1.5             for offenders released for work release; authorizing 
  1.6             commissioner of corrections to enter into a purchasing 
  1.7             pool for prescription drugs; allocating housing funds 
  1.8             for projects that provide employment support; 
  1.9             appropriating money; amending Minnesota Statutes 2004, 
  1.10            sections 241.01, by adding a subdivision; 244.054; 
  1.11            256B.055, by adding a subdivision.  
  1.12  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.13     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 241.01, is 
  1.14  amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
  1.15     Subd. 10.  [PURCHASING FOR PRESCRIPTION DRUGS.] In 
  1.16  accordance with section 241.021, subdivision 4, the commissioner 
  1.17  may contract with a separate entity to purchase prescription 
  1.18  drugs for persons confined in institutions under the control of 
  1.19  the commissioner.  Local governments may participate in this 
  1.20  purchasing pool in order to purchase prescription drugs for 
  1.21  those persons confined in local correctional facilities in which 
  1.22  the local government has responsibility for providing health 
  1.23  care.  If any county participates, the commissioner shall 
  1.24  appoint a county representative to any committee convened by the 
  1.25  commissioner for the purpose of establishing a drug formulary to 
  1.26  be used for state and local correctional facilities. 
  1.27     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 244.054, is 
  1.28  amended to read: 
  2.1      244.054 [DISCHARGE PLANS; OFFENDERS WITH SERIOUS AND 
  2.2   PERSISTENT MENTAL ILLNESS.] 
  2.3      Subdivision 1.  [OFFER TO DEVELOP PLAN.] The commissioner 
  2.4   of human services, in collaboration with the commissioner of 
  2.5   corrections, shall offer to develop a discharge plan for 
  2.6   community-based services for every offender with serious and 
  2.7   persistent mental illness, as defined in section 245.462, 
  2.8   subdivision 20, paragraph (c), and every offender who has had a 
  2.9   diagnosis of mental illness and would otherwise be eligible for 
  2.10  case management services under section 245.462, subdivision 20, 
  2.11  paragraph (c), but for the requirement that the offender be 
  2.12  hospitalized or in residential treatment, who is being released 
  2.13  from a correctional facility.  If an offender is being released 
  2.14  pursuant to section 244.05, the offender may choose to have the 
  2.15  discharge plan made one of the conditions of the offender's 
  2.16  supervised release and shall follow the conditions to the extent 
  2.17  that services are available and offered to the offender. 
  2.18     Subd. 2.  [CONTENT OF PLAN.] If an offender chooses to have 
  2.19  a discharge plan developed, the commissioner of human services 
  2.20  shall develop and implement a discharge plan, which must include 
  2.21  at least the following: 
  2.22     (1) at least 90 days before the offender is due to be 
  2.23  discharged, the commissioner of human services shall designate 
  2.24  an agent of the Department of Human Services a discharge planner 
  2.25  with mental health training to serve as the primary person 
  2.26  responsible for carrying out discharge planning activities; 
  2.27     (2) at least 75 days before the offender is due to be 
  2.28  discharged, the offender's designated agent discharge planner 
  2.29  shall: 
  2.30     (i) obtain informed consent and releases of information 
  2.31  from the offender that are needed for transition services, and 
  2.32  forward to the appropriate local entity; 
  2.33     (ii) contact the county human services department in the 
  2.34  community where the offender expects to reside following 
  2.35  discharge, and inform the department of the offender's impending 
  2.36  discharge and the planned date of the offender's return to the 
  3.1   community; determine whether the county or a designated 
  3.2   contracted provider will provide case management services to the 
  3.3   offender; refer the offender to the case management services 
  3.4   provider; and confirm that the case management services provider 
  3.5   will have opened the offender's case prior to the offender's 
  3.6   discharge; and 
  3.7      (iii) refer the offender to appropriate staff in the county 
  3.8   human services department in the community where the offender 
  3.9   expects to reside following discharge, for enrollment of the 
  3.10  offender if eligible in medical assistance or general assistance 
  3.11  medical care, using special procedures established by process 
  3.12  and Department of Human Services bulletin assist the offender in 
  3.13  filling out an application for medical assistance, general 
  3.14  assistance medical care, or MinnesotaCare and submit the 
  3.15  application for eligibility determination to the commissioner.  
  3.16  The commissioner shall determine an offender's eligibility no 
  3.17  more than 45 days, or no more than 60 days if the offender's 
  3.18  disability status must be determined, from the date that the 
  3.19  application is received by the department.  The effective date 
  3.20  of eligibility for the health care program shall be no earlier 
  3.21  than the date of the offender's release.  If eligibility is 
  3.22  approved, the commissioner shall mail a Minnesota health care 
  3.23  program membership card to the facility in which the offender 
  3.24  resides and transfer the offender's case to MinnesotaCare 
  3.25  operations within the department or the appropriate county human 
  3.26  services agency in the county where the offender expects to 
  3.27  reside following release for ongoing case management; 
  3.28     (3) at least 2-1/2 months before discharge, the offender's 
  3.29  designated agent discharge planner shall secure timely 
  3.30  appointments for the offender with a psychiatrist no later than 
  3.31  30 days following discharge, and with other program staff at a 
  3.32  community mental health provider that is able to serve former 
  3.33  offenders with serious and persistent mental illness; 
  3.34     (4) at least 30 days before discharge, the offender's 
  3.35  designated agent discharge planner shall convene a predischarge 
  3.36  assessment and planning meeting of key staff from the programs 
  4.1   in which the offender has participated while in the correctional 
  4.2   facility, the offender, the supervising agent, and the mental 
  4.3   health case management services provider assigned to the 
  4.4   offender.  At the meeting, attendees shall provide background 
  4.5   information and continuing care recommendations for the 
  4.6   offender, including information on the offender's risk for 
  4.7   relapse; current medications, including dosage and frequency; 
  4.8   therapy and behavioral goals; diagnostic and assessment 
  4.9   information, including results of a chemical dependency 
  4.10  evaluation; confirmation of appointments with a psychiatrist and 
  4.11  other program staff in the community; a relapse prevention plan; 
  4.12  continuing care needs; needs for housing, employment, and 
  4.13  finance support and assistance; and recommendations for 
  4.14  successful community integration, including chemical dependency 
  4.15  treatment or support if chemical dependency is a risk factor.  
  4.16  Immediately following this meeting, the offender's designated 
  4.17  agent discharge planner shall summarize this background 
  4.18  information and continuing care recommendations in a written 
  4.19  report; 
  4.20     (5) immediately following the predischarge assessment and 
  4.21  planning meeting, the provider of mental health case management 
  4.22  services who will serve the offender following discharge shall 
  4.23  offer to make arrangements and referrals for housing, financial 
  4.24  support, benefits assistance, employment counseling, and other 
  4.25  services required in sections 245.461 to 245.486; 
  4.26     (6) at least ten days before the offender's first scheduled 
  4.27  postdischarge appointment with a mental health provider, the 
  4.28  offender's designated agent discharge planner shall transfer the 
  4.29  following records to the offender's case management services 
  4.30  provider and psychiatrist:  the predischarge assessment and 
  4.31  planning report, medical records, and pharmacy records.  These 
  4.32  records may be transferred only if the offender provides 
  4.33  informed consent for their release; 
  4.34     (7) upon discharge, the offender's designated agent 
  4.35  discharge planner shall ensure that the offender leaves the 
  4.36  correctional facility with at least a ten-day supply of all 
  5.1   necessary medications; and 
  5.2      (8) upon discharge, the prescribing authority at the 
  5.3   offender's correctional facility shall telephone in 
  5.4   prescriptions for all necessary medications to a pharmacy in the 
  5.5   community where the offender plans to reside.  The prescriptions 
  5.6   must provide at least a 30-day supply of all necessary 
  5.7   medications, and must be able to be refilled once for one 
  5.8   additional 30-day supply. 
  5.9      Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 256B.055, is 
  5.10  amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
  5.11     Subd. 14.  [PERSONS DETAINED BY LAW.] (a) An inmate of a 
  5.12  correctional facility who is conditionally released as 
  5.13  authorized under section 241.26, 244.065, or 631.425 is eligible 
  5.14  for medical assistance if the individual does not require the 
  5.15  security of a public detention facility and is housed in a 
  5.16  halfway house or community correction center, or under house 
  5.17  arrest and monitored by electronic surveillance in a residence 
  5.18  approved by the commissioner of corrections.  
  5.19     (b) An individual, regardless of age, who is involuntarily 
  5.20  detained by law in the custody of a correctional or detention 
  5.21  facility as an individual accused or convicted of a crime, is 
  5.22  not eligible for medical assistance.  An individual is not 
  5.23  determined to be involuntarily detained for purposes of medical 
  5.24  assistance eligibility if the individual is placed in a 
  5.25  detention facility for a temporary period pending other 
  5.26  arrangements appropriate to the individual's needs.  
  5.27     Sec. 4.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  5.28     For the biennium ending June 30, 2007, the commissioner of 
  5.29  the Housing Finance Agency shall allocate $....... from the 
  5.30  housing trust fund account in the housing development fund for 
  5.31  supportive housing projects that provide employment support.