EXECUTIVE ORDER
06-39

WHEREAS, the State of Missouri recognizes the importance of serving the people of Missouri with efficient, competent, responsive and effective state government; and

WHEREAS, the Missouri State Government Review Commission was established by Executive Order 05-05 and charged with the responsibility of examining every Executive Department within our state government to identify opportunities to restructure, retool, reduce, consolidate, or eliminate state government functions in accordance with what would result in the best and most cost-effective service for Missouri citizens; and

WHEREAS, the Commission convened fifty-nine public meetings which included twelve public hearings where hundreds of Missouri citizens gave numerous hours of oral testimony and almost two-thousand pages of written testimony. The Commission considered 563 different, specific proposals that resulted in eighty-four final Commission recommendations; and

WHEREAS, the Missouri State Government Review Commission completed its duties and submitted a report detailing its recommendations; and

WHEREAS, there is a continuing need to implement the necessary recommendations offered by the Commission in order to achieve the overall goal Missouri set out to accomplish which is to improve the efficiency of state government; and

WHEREAS, the Commission recognized a need to reduce redundancies in the provision of mental health to children, adults, and families; and

WHEREAS, the State of Missouri was one of eight states this year selected to receive a five-year federal grant totaling over $14 million to be used to transform Missouri's mental health system; and

WHEREAS, the creation of a transformation grant working group will optimize the state's use of the federal grant money as well as implement the recommendations offered by the Commission.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, MATT BLUNT, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the State of Missouri, do hereby create and establish the Mental Health Transformation Working Group.

The Mental Health Transformation Working Group ("Working Group") shall consist of eighteen members. Two members shall be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the Governor, to include the Chairperson and Co-Chair, who shall be in positions either within the organizational structure of the Department of Mental Health or under contract with Department of Mental Health. The Governor shall also appoint one member from each of the following: the Department of Social Services, the Department of Public Safety, Department of Health and Senior Services, the Department of Corrections, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Office of Administration, the Office of State Courts Administrator, and the State Housing Commission, as well as three public members who are consumers and/or family members of individuals receiving youth and adult services from the Department of Mental Health. The remaining five members of the Working Group shall be the Department of Mental Health director of Comprehensive Psychiatric Services, Department of Mental Health director of the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, the Department of Mental Health director of the Division of Mental Retardation/Development Disabilities, the chairperson of the State Advisory Council for the Department of Mental Health Division of Comprehensive Psychiatric Services and the Governor's Health Policy Analyst. The membership of the Working Group shall be representative of the racial and ethnic diversity of Missouri.

I hereby charge the Working Group with the duty of transforming Missouri's mental health system to be more efficient and effective in its delivery of services to Missouri's citizens in the following ways:

1. Conduct a thorough statewide needs assessment;
2. Develop a comprehensive state mental health plan;
3. Identify and implement policy, organizational, and financing changes required to effectively carry out the state plan;
4. Coordinate policy actions with other state and federal initiatives and fully incorporating the Comprehensive Children's Mental Health Services Plan into all planning activities;
5. Establish cross-departmental management teams to address specific policy areas, address specific transformation planning objectives, and implement policy decisions; and
6. Eliminate redundancies in the provision of mental health and behavioral services to children, adults and family.

The Working Group shall coordinate its policy and planning activities with other state-federal initiative planning and leadership groups, including:

1. State Mental Health Advisory Council
2. Co-Occurring Disorders State Incentive Grant Advisory Committee
3. Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant Advisory Committee
4. Access to Recovery Initiative

The governing body for the Working Group shall be the existing Human Services Cabinet Council, which is chaired by the Governor's Chief of Staff and consists of the Directors of the following departments: Department of Mental Health, Department of Social Services, Department of Health and Senior Services, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Department of Corrections, and the Department of Public Safety. The Human Services Cabinet Council shall receive regular reports from the Working Group, review and approve all recommended plans and policy changes, and assure consistency with and alignment of Working Group activities with the activities and recommendations of the Government Review Commission and other initiatives of the Governor.

The Working Group is assigned for administrative purposes to the Department of Mental Health. The director of the Department of Mental Health or his designee shall provide the Working Group with any staff assistance the Working Group may require from time to time and shall be available to assist the Working Group as necessary.

Members of the Working Group shall receive no compensation for their service to the people of Missouri in relation to their involvement with the Working Group, but may seek reimbursement of their reasonable and necessary expenses incurred as members of the Working Group, in accordance with requirements under federal grant funds used to support Working Group activities and with the rules and regulations of the Department of Mental Health.

The Working Group shall convene at the call of its Chairpersons and the first meeting shall be as soon as possible.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of the State of Missouri, in the City of Jefferson, on this 11th day of October, 2006.

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