Advisory board on program implementation

(a) Establishment Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall establish an Advisory Board to manage and administer the Program under section 2, with the responsibility to: (1) Evaluate and approve the plans submitted by a State or locality as required under section 2 and to ensure that grant funding is used as specified under section 2. (2) Monitor plans submitted by the Bureau of Prisons and advise the Attorney General on compliance to ensure that funding to the Bureau of Prisons is used as specified under section 2. (3) Provide technical assistance to a State or locality to help with the implementation and administration of mental health screening and referral programs that maximize impact on reducing crime rates and improving employment and wage rates for individuals released from prison or jail, and to assist a State or locality’s coordination with the Attorney General in implementing the Program. (4) Publish a database of completed evaluations of the impact of a Program, as specified under section 5. (5) Create a working group of mental healthcare providers, jail and prison administrators, law enforcement officials, and operators of existing mental health screening and referral programs, as of the creation of the working group, to share best practices on how to create and implement mental health screening and referral programs that have the largest impact on reducing crime rates and improving employment and wage rates for individuals released from prison or jail. (6) Work in coordination with mental health outreach teams as established under section 2, to ensure that the Program is operating as required. (7) Determine if a grant awarded by the Program is not meeting the requirements of the Program and mandate necessary changes and reduce funding if such changes are not made. (8) Oversee the completion of required program evaluations as described under section 5, by— (A) contracting with one or more independent research organizations to carry out an evaluation of the impact of each grant awarded under the Program on arrest, arraignment, and incarceration rates, employment and wage rates, and mental healthcare utilization rates of individuals who have been administered mental health screening; and (B) working with the Bureau of Prisons, States, and localities to ensure that the evaluation is successfully completed. (b) Technical assistance The Advisory Board shall provide technical assistance to the Bureau of Prisons, States, and localities in setting up and administering the Program and shall identify evidence-backed models for the administration of mental health screening and referral programs that the Bureau of Prisons, States, and localities can look to when designing their own programs. (c) Process evaluation activities Not later than one year after the Program begins, the Advisory Board shall conduct a process evaluation for a grant awarded under the Program, in which the implementation of the surveys and referrals in each prison or jail is monitored and evaluated to ensure that they are being carried out as specified in the plan submitted to the Advisory Board. (d) Membership (1) In general The Attorney General shall appoint members to serve on the Advisory Board established under subsection (a) who have expertise with respect to— (A) designing and administering mental health screenings and providing referrals for those incarcerated in prisons or jails, or for those who have recently left such facilities; (B) mental healthcare within prisons or jails; or (C) program evaluation using rigorous experimental and quasi-experimental statistical methods. (2) Number of members The Attorney General shall appoint as many members to the Advisory Board established under subsection (a) as deemed necessary by the Attorney General.