Bill > S1025

This bill modifies the structure and composition of citizen boards within the Department of Mental Health, which oversees mental health services in the Commonwealth. Specifically, it removes references to specific locations like Medfield, Taunton, Westborough, and Worcester from one section and replaces them with "Taunton and the Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital," likely to reflect current operational areas. More significantly, it establishes new provisions for "community mental health area boards," referred to as "area boards," which will function as agencies of the Commonwealth serving within the Department. These area boards will be composed of at least fifteen members appointed by the commissioner, with specific requirements that two-thirds of the members reside within the area they represent and the remaining members either live or work there. The bill also mandates that two-thirds of the board members cannot be employees of the Commonwealth, and no member can be an employee of the Department of Mental Health itself. Members will serve three-year terms, with limitations on consecutive terms, and will not receive compensation but will be sworn to their duties, with the area board suggesting names for appointments and vacancies to the commissioner.