By: Darby (Senate Sponsor - Seliger) H.B. No. 1213

(In the Senate - Received from the House April 19, 2021; May 4, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence; May 14, 2021, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 14, 2021, sent to printer.) Click here to see the committee vote

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to court reporter costs incurred in a hearing or proceeding for the involuntary detention of a person with mental illness.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 571.018(c), Health and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:

(c) Costs under this section include:

(1) attorney's fees;

(2) physician examination fees;

(3) compensation for court-appointed personnel listed under Section 571.017;

(4) expenses of transportation to a mental health facility or to a federal agency not to exceed $50 if transporting within the same county and not to exceed the reasonable cost of transportation if transporting between counties;

(5) costs and salary supplements authorized under Sections 574.031(i) and (j); [and]

(6) prosecutor's fees authorized under Section 574.031(k); and

(7) court reporter costs.

SECTION 2. Section 571.018(c), Health and Safety Code, as amended by this Act, applies only to the court reporter costs incurred on or after the effective date of this Act. Court reporter costs incurred before the effective date of this Act are governed by the law in effect when the hearing was initiated, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.

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