Texas Bar Journal • November 2024

Recognizing Vision

The Texas Judicial Commission on Mental Health strives to improve the administration of justice for citizens with mental health needs, substance use disorders, or intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Written by Bill Boyce

Few court proceedings can match the visual and policy impact of a joint session of the Supreme Court of Texas and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

When the two high courts convened their historic joint session in 2018 to launch the Texas Judicial Commission on Mental Health, they conveyed an unmistakable message: Texas can do better for its justice-involved citizens with mental health needs, substance use disorders, or intellectual and developmental disabilities. This public commitment of judicial capital and energy has spurred collaboration in all branches and at all levels of Texas government.

Texas is indeed doing better by these citizens, and the work continues to do better still.

The challenges have been apparent nationwide for years. Scarce hospital beds and lack of treatment options turned courts, prisons, and jails into default providers of mental health services. The resulting system too often has become a revolving door characterized by arrest during a crisis; temporary (at best) stabilization; decompensation after release; and re-arrest as the cycle repeats and underlying conditions remain unaddressed.

The Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators urged court leaders to address the impact of the broken mental health system on the nation’s courts. Under the leadership of Supreme Court of Texas Chief Justice Nathan L. Hecht, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller, and Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Barbara Hervey, Texas became the first state to respond to this crisis by creating a judicial commission focused on mental health.

The impending retirements of Hecht, Keller, and Hervey make this an appropriate time to recognize their vision and commitment; thank them for their efforts; and celebrate the commission’s accomplishments.

The commission is currently co-chaired by Supreme Court of Texas Justice Jane Bland and Hervey. I have been honored to serve as the vice chair since its inception. With Kristi Taylor at the helm as executive director, this commission and its small staff have moved some mountains.

In the past six years, the commission and its leaders have:

• Planned and hosted seven Judicial Summits on Mental Health, a free annual symposium drawing more than a thousand attendees each year that has become a premier mental health conference.

• Written and distributed publications including:
  • The Texas Mental Health and Intellectual and
  • The Texas Mental Health and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Law Code Book.
  • The Reimagining Justice podcast, which features community leaders sharing innovative ideas.
  • Toolkits including Eliminate the Wait, the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 16.22 guide, and the 10-Step Guide to Creating a Mental Health Court Program.

• Provided technical assistance via in-person workshops, presentations at state and national conferences, virtual trainings, and professional peer networking to hundreds of court professionals.

• Worked with the Texas Judicial Council to submit proposals to the Texas Legislature for review, contributing to the passage of 16 commission-sponsored legislative proposals.

• Created a series of mental health forms to streamline and promote efficiency in court processes.

The commission’s efforts have extended throughout Texas to help individuals involved in the judicial system and those who administer justice. This commission would not have achieved these results, which have been recognized and replicated nationally, without the steadfast leadership of the two high courts.

Six years ago, Hecht, Keller, and Hervey were instrumental in issuing this challenge: We can do better.

The best way to thank them for their dedication to improving the administration of justice for citizens with mental health needs, substance use disorders, or intellectual and developmental disabilities is to answer: We can. We have. We will.

CHELSEA LEITCH is a counsel in Haynes and Boone’s Corporate Practice Group. Her practice focuses on structuring, drafting, and negotiating complex commercial agreements and related arrangements, bringing strategic legal insight and practical solutions into clients’ business relationships. Leitch is an adviser for clients in a variety of industries and regularly assists them with a range of contracts, from business-critical, high-profile, complex commercial agreements to routine contracts that facilitate their day-to-day business activities.