Council on Sex Offender Treatment 1100 West 49th Street Austin, Texas 78756-3183 (512) 834-4530 (512) 834-4511 - FAX CHAIR: Walter J. Meyer, III, MD MEMBERS: Liles Arnold, LPC Kristy M. Carr Richard Mack,LMFT Maria T. Molett MA, LPC, LMFT David Swinson, Jr. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Kelly Page The Council on Sex Offender Treatment (CSOT) and the Interagency Advisory Committee met at 8:00 a.m. on February 11, 2001 at the Holiday Inn Select-Near Greenway Plaza, Houston, Texas, Churchhill Room. I. Call to order, Chairperson, Walter J. Meyer, III, M.D. Meeting called to order at 8:05 a.m. on February 11, 2001. II. Introduction of Members, Guests, and Staff. Council Members Present: Walter J. Meyer, III, M.D. Liles Arnold Richard Mack Maria Molett Kristy Carr Council Member Not Present: David Swinson Interagency Advisory Committee (IAC) present: Glen Kercher Grace Davis Janet Latham Estella Guillen Michael Maples TDH Staff present: Kelly Page Deborah Scott David Richards Becky Berryhill Debbie Peterson Public Present: Martha Moses Deanna Hagy Stefan Ateek Vivian Lewis-Heine Diana Garza-Louis Robin Rodgers Paul Williams Ron Burks Norma Reed Barbara Levinson James Keedy Michael Simon Sejal Trivedi III. Approval of Meeting Minutes from December 1, 2000 meeting. Maria Molett motioned and Liles Arnold seconded for approval of the December 1, 2000 minutes. All were in favor. IV. Division Director's Report. Debbie Peterson, Assistant Division Director presented and discussed handouts regarding CSOT and Civil Commitment (CC) budgets; Health Professions Council Annual Report; the Clear Conference in San Antonio, September 13-15, 2001; and the General Revenue Transfers for FY 2000. IV. Council Chairperson's Report. Dr. Meyer said the Council has been invited to prepare an article for the International Journal on Psychology and Law on the appropriate treatment of sex offenders. He also mentioned that he will be recreating and re-titling a workshop to present at the upcoming ATSA conference to be held in November in San Antonio. V. Civil Commitment Multi disciplinary Team member report. Maria Molett passed out and discussed a report, "Sex Offender Civil Commitment" from the Multi disciplinary team. The team meets once a month and at this time are caught up on cases. The statistics from the report were discussed. Ms. Molett answered questions from the audience and other Council and IAC members. Mr. Ateek asked that on behalf of ATSA, that the Council send Civil Commitment reports to other states with civil commitment. VI. Interagency Advisory Committee (IAC) Chairperson's Report. The IAC did not meet prior to this meeting, therefore, there was no report. VII. Discussion and Possible action on IAC report and recommendations. No action taken. IX. Executive Director's Report. Kelly Page reported: * Texas Association Against Sexual Assault has asked the Council on Sex Offender Treatment to co-sponsor, along with several other agencies, their Justice Conference, November 12-13, 2001, at the Omni South Park. * The Adult Conference has 268 registered at this time and an additional 20 walk-ins are expected. * The Juvenile Conference Committee will be meeting March 23, 2001. * Updated the Council on the two civil commitment sexually violent predator clients. * Currently CSOT has 321 registrants, with 5 applications pending. * For the month of January 3 complaints have been received, one closed Not substantiated, one Warning Letter of Concern mailed. * A final report regarding recommendations from the Sex Offender Registration/Notification Working Group was distributed. * Kelly passed out and discussed the Projects chart for the Council and IAC members to show each member what work groups they are on and to remind them of pending projects. * Each Council member was given a copy of the new travel procedures, they were reminded that if they have any questions to call Deborah at the office. * Kelly asked Debbie Peterson and Becky Berryhill to review the General Revenue Transfers hand-out. * A letter from Ms. Issac with ATSA was read to the Council. Mr. Ateek stated that he has had many conversations with Ms. Issac and that ATSA would like to keep in close touch with the Council thru a key person and he feels that person should be Kelly Page, the Executive Director of the Council. Ms. Molett said it is very important that we be involved in ATSA and support them any way we can. X. Discussion and Possible action regarding the recommendation that the Council endorse a resolution supporting the Texas Association of Polygraph Examiners position on the computerized voice stress analyzer. Grace Davis stated she was confused at the request to write a resolution since the Council had voted to not support the computerized voice stress analyzer. Ms. Davis feels a position paper should be written instead of a resolution. XI. Discussion and Possible action regarding Civil Commitment Services. Kelly Page discussed the policy and procedures of the civil commitment out-of- state issues. The current job descriptions state that you must reside in Texas and that we cannot hire outside of Texas. Liles Arnold stated that he felt the language needed to be cleaned up to include hiring outside of Texas. In his opinion, we should not be providing services out of Texas. The statute should be redefined to say that the Council only provide services for those SVP's that reside in Texas. Kelly Page stated that Senator Shapiro's office was reluctant to limiting case management services to Texas only. David Richards, legal counsel stated that he does not feel that civil commitment will face the out-of-state issue anymore due to the Multi- disciplinary team being caught up. These cases can be taken care of before they are released from jail and therefore, we can mandate that they stay in Texas. Ms. Page asked the council to allow her to re-write the job descriptions to reflect the out-of-state hiring. Liles Arnold so moved and Maria Molett seconded, all were in favor, the motion passed XII. Discussion and Possible action regarding the designation of an expert witness to provide testimony at trial regarding the outpatient sexually violent predator treatment program. Kelly Page states she was contacted by the Special Prosecution unit to designate an expert witness regarding the treatment in the civil commitment program. The Council felt the state could designate their witness. No action was taken. The meeting went into recess at 10:00 a.m. and reconvened at 10:15 a.m. XIII. Discussion and Possible action on Continuing Education Training Criteria. Concerns were discussed about the way the rules are written and the way they are interpreted when approving continue education credits. Ms. Vivian Lewis-Heine and Ms. Diana Garza-Louis shared their work book for their 40 hour course for continuing education. Mr. James Keedy spoke of his concerns about the amount of hours the council will accept for in-house training and how it is determined what workshops we will accept. Maria Molett stated the taskforce is looking at making changes. Ms. Grace Davis stated that the council needed to approve Ms. Hagy's CE's to be consistent with prior actions. Ms. Page stated the issue will be reviewed at the application review committee meeting this afternoon. XIV. Discussion and Possible action regarding the Pros and Cons of Juvenile registration. Liles Arnold passed out a hand-out and discussed it with the council. The issue that registration and notification are not two in the same was discussed. The Council asked Mr. Arnold to finalize a paper on this issue. Ms. Kristy Carr made a motion that the Council approve Mr. Arnold's paper, Ms. Maria Molett seconded the motion, all were in favor, the motion passed. Mr. Arnold said he would have the council office fax each council and IAC member a draft of the finalized paper for any comments or changes. Ms. Norma Reed went on record stating that there should be tiers of notification for juveniles, depending on the level of the offense. XV. Discussion and Possible action regarding recent legislation filed. A hand-out was passed out and Becky Berryhill discussed recent bills being tracked that might affect the program. Ms. Berryhill also discussed bills being proposed concerning business practices on the Internet. SB12: Release of information was discussed. Ms. Grace Davis mentioned that she will be responding to the Victim/Sex Offender bills and that if anyone has any comments they would like to share with her to E-mail her and she will include those comments. HB656 and SB436: Liles Arnold stated the reporting laws should be n line of the statute of limitation. Dr. Kercher talked about an article "From the Courts" on this issue. No action was taken. XVI. Discussion and Possible action regarding the Texas Health and Human Service Commission, Report on Texas Department of Health Regulatory Programs- Recommendation for Consolidating, Restructuring, or Moving Health- Related Regulatory Programs, December 15, 2000. A hand-out was given and Ms. Becky Berryhill commented about this issue. Health and Human Services sunset mandated the re-alignment of all regulatory programs. On March 23, 2001 there will be a meeting on this issue for all Board/Council heads to discuss the process. The issue now is to cluster and /or move the four mental health boards together. Dr. Meyer stressed his concern in the loss of the infra-structure, should all the Boards be placed under one Board. Questions were raised about computer equipment the Council has purchased, will the council be allowed to take the equipment that is being shared with all the programs should we be moved? Ms. Page stressed that she has had many conversations with the computer support personnel and Ms. Berryhill about his issue and has been assured the equipment would go with us. XVII. Discussion and Possible action regarding expenditures for equipment, software, and services for the Council and the outpatient sexually violent predator treatment program. Kelly Page discussed the Tracking Software and stated that Senator Shapiro's office said they supported this issue last year. The price quote from Automated Data Services last year for Phase I was $235,000. This cost would be shared with all four Boards. The Civil Commitment program will purchase the software and the other Boards would pay back their share over the next five years. The Phase II cost quote is $139,000, this will enable the boards to be on the WEB, with on-going maintenance being $23,000 per year. Ms. Page requested approval from the council to purchase new printers, one for her office and a larger one for the staff. Dr. Meyer moved and Liles Arnold seconded the motion, all were in favor, the motion passed with the stipulation that all the other Boards approve of the Tracking software issue and are able to equally share the software expense.. XVIII.Discussion and Possible action regarding complaint #00-SO-006. This item was passed on at this time. No discussion or action was taken at this time. XIX. Discussion and Possible action regarding the position of the Executive Director and the Council Staff. Prior to the Council going into Executive Session, the Council entertained Public Comments first. XX. Public Comment. XXI. Presentation of Future Agenda Items. XXII. Discussion of Future Meeting Dates. Meeting date was not set at this time. The Council at this time went into Executive Session at 12:00 noon. The meeting was reconvened at 12:17 p.m. XIX. Discussion and Possible action regarding the position of Executive Director and Council Staff. The Council went into executive session at 12:00 noon and discussed the positions of the Executive Director and the two Council staff members. Out of executive session at 12:17 pm, in open discussion. Maria Molett stated that staff members Deborah Scott and Emily Mathers did an outstanding job this year. She said that they have always been available; responsible and know the answers or find the answers in a timely manner. She has never experienced a situation when staff were unavailable or unresponsive. Maria believes that the CSOT staff have worked very hard. She appreciates all the hard work that has been done on the conference. Maria Molett stated that the CSOT work loads were increasing and believes that it is important to retain competent staff who are knowledgeable about CSOT and Civil Commitment. Kristy Carr agreed. Liles asked that it go on record saying the Council formally has expressed their appreciation for the hard work of Kelly Page, Deborah Scott and Emily Mathers and they are respected for running their office efficiently and effectively in response to what we ask them to do. David Richards also pointed out that CSOT and Civil Commitment is a different type of program, one within itself, one that the program began on the first floor with and grew as time went on. "This has been a monumental task." Liles Arnold motioned that the council staff receive a two-step merit award, this was seconded by Richard Mack. Dr. Meyer motioned for approval, all were in favor. XXIII. Adjournment. Liles Arnold moved and Richard Mack seconded for adjournment at 12:23 p.m. All were in favor. The motion passed. Council on Sex Offender Treatment 1100 West 49th Street Austin, Texas 78756-3183 (512) 834-4530 (512) 834-6677 - FAX CHAIR: Walter J. Meyer, III, MD MEMBERS: Liles Arnold, LPC Kristy M. Carr Richard Mack, LMFT Maria T. Molett MA, LPC, LMFT David Swinson, Jr. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Kelly Page The Rules Committee met at 7:00 a.m. on February 12, 2001, The Holiday Inn Select (Near Greenway Plaza) 2712 Southwest Freeway Churchill Room, First Floor Houston, TX I. Convene, Chairperson, Maria Molett. Meeting called to order at 7:00 a.m. II. Introduction of Members, Guests, and Staff. Committee members present: Maria Molett Liles Arnold Janet Latham Estelle Guillen Dr. Kercher TDH Staff present: Kelly Page Deborah Scott David Richards Public present: Matt Ferrare Debbie Boyles Deborah Moore Diana Garza- Louis Mike Maples III. Discussion of recent Council survey results. Dr. Kercher stated that the results were in the latest edition of the Texas Resource and that if anyone had any comments or questions concerning the survey they could talk to him, otherwise, he had nothing new to report. IV. Discussion and Possible action on future proposed rule changes. Maria Molett explained the purpose of the rules committee. She asked if anyone had any rule they would like to see modified. Several people mentioned revisiting the continuing education credits and the supervision of ASOTP's. Deborah Moore: Asked for clarification on the process where the ASOTP and the supervisor sit down and work together, if these hours count towards the RSOTP status. Group size needs to be addressed. Civil Commitment Revision of the supervision sheet. Liles Arnold: Clarification of the required 40 hours of training The number of in-house training hours that will be accepted. Training/supervision hours should be defined and divided in the rules. i.e., hours of training includes workshops and conferences for CE requirements, hours spent with your supervisor are counted towards your 250- 1000 hours for ASOTP/RSOTP status Deana Garza-Louis: Limit the number of hours each person can obtain from different types of training Maria Molett: Possibly reduce the number of victim hours needed for the initial application. Dr. Kercher expressed concern about the way that rule 810.3(1)(c) reads. Rule states a treatment plan is to be included when a registrant is applying, however, all we have them do is a check list. He feels an accurate treatment plan should be included and updated as necessary. He asked that we have the clinical issues committee look at revising the application form for new registrants to include a treatment plan. The treatment plan must be shared with the client Mike Maples: The language for the standards of treatment should to be tightened up. State in the rules what the progress report form should include. Set up outcomes in the rules provisions such as clients should have no contact with law enforcement, did they pass polygraphs, fantasies, homework. Also, client's progress on polygraphs and homework should be properly noted. Estella Guillen: Concerned about the language in the rules being too strong, if we say they MUST then we need an auditing/moderating/regulating system in place to see that these rules are being followed. V. Discussion and Possible action on task force groups assignments. None were discussed at this time. VI. Public Comment. Liles Arnold asked Dr. Kercher to present a workshop at the Juvenile Conference on treatment planning. VII. Presentation of Future Agenda Items. None at this time. VIII. Discussion of Future Meeting Dates. This meeting will be in conjunction with the upcoming Council meeting. IX. Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 a.m.