Legislative win for mental health services: Rider 56

Tracy McClain urges sheriffs to respond to Rider 56 survey at 05 Feb 2025 Texas Jail Commission on Jail Standards quarterly meeting in Austin, TX

Thanks to Texas Jail Project’s advocacy, the state legislature passed two trail-blazing Riders in Senate Bill 1 during the 2025 legislative session. One of them, Rider 56: Appropriate Care Settings for Individuals with Severe and Persistent Mental Illness and Co-Occurring Conditions Study, will address the gap in care and housing for persons who no longer need hospital level care, but who are not yet ready for community placement.  The rider mandates that Community Behavioral Health Administration, through the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) must:

• Study and develop a proposal to implement a pilot program that provides residential intermediate care services for individuals with severe and persistent mental illness who may have co-occurring conditions, who due to acuity of of their conditions, are inappropriate for community placement but no longer meet criteria for inpatient psychiatric care.
• HHSC shall submit findings and recommendations from the study by October 15, 2026

 Texas Jail Project mobilized an overwhelming response to the HHSC survey related to Rider 56 from elected officials, local sheriffs, and directly impacted community members, and generated over a dozen written responses. TJP worked with the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, the Sheriffs Association of Texas, and the Texas Association of Counties to mobilize survey responses. TJP also worked to extend the deadline for the survey twice to ensure robust participation.

You can watch the Apr 15, 2026 Joint Committee on Access and Forensic Services meeting where they discussed Rider 56 here:  6. Health and Specialty Care System – Office of Forensic Services and Coordination Report and see the analysis of Rider 56 results below. JCAFS will present recommendations at their next meeting on July 31, 2026. Please sign up to give public comment no later than 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, July 29, 2026 by filling out this form.

Read about Texas Jail Projects’ other legislative successes, including the legislative win for maternal health & pregnant people; the legislative win for mental health data and all of our legislative work here.