(a) Mission. The mission of the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation (TXMHMR) is to offer an array of services which respond to the needs of people with mental illness and mental retardation and which enable them to make choices that result in lives of dignity and increased independence. Our vision is that the TXMHMR service system will become one that is permeated with a commitment to continuous quality improvement (CQI) that is truly customer-driven. It embraces the belief that large public systems even with their inherent regulatory roles and resource limitations can become highly personalized, highly responsive, and highly innovative.(b) Financial and service responsibilities to persons with disabilities. The Texas MHMR Act requires that TXMHMR identify its priority populations and the minimum array of services necessary to address the needs of persons within these priority populations. This legislation also requires that services be offered first to those most in need and that state dollars be used only for services provided to the priority population.(1) Mental retardation services.(A) Mental retardation priority population.(i) The priority population for mental retardation services consists of the 70,840 persons considered to be the most in need. That is approximately 15% of the 480,000 Texans with mental retardation. TXMHMR estimates that there are approximately 26,000 persons with mental retardation in the priority population who currently require our agency's services and are not receiving them.(ii) TXMHMR's priority population for mental retardation services includes those persons who request and need services and possess one or more of the following conditions:(I) mental retardation, as defined by the Health and Safety Code,