| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the authority of a peace officer to apprehend a person |
|
|
for emergency detention and of certain facilities and physicians to |
|
|
temporarily detain a person with mental illness. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. The heading to Subchapter A, Chapter 573, Health |
|
|
and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows: |
|
|
SUBCHAPTER A. APPREHENSION, [BY PEACE OFFICER OR] TRANSPORTATION, |
|
|
OR DETENTION WITHOUT JUDGE'S OR MAGISTRATE'S ORDER [FOR EMERGENCY |
|
|
DETENTION BY GUARDIAN] |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 573.001, Health and Safety Code, is |
|
|
amended by adding Subsection (i) to read as follows: |
|
|
(i) A peace officer may take into custody under this section |
|
|
a person who has been admitted as a patient to a facility listed in |
|
|
Section 573.006. |
|
|
SECTION 3. Subchapter A, Chapter 573, Health and Safety |
|
|
Code, is amended by adding Section 573.006 to read as follows: |
|
|
Sec. 573.006. TEMPORARY DETENTION IN CERTAIN FACILITIES. |
|
|
(a) In this section, "facility" means: |
|
|
(1) an inpatient mental health facility other than a |
|
|
community center, a facility operated by or under contract with a |
|
|
community center, an entity the executive commissioner designates |
|
|
to provide mental health services, a local mental health authority, |
|
|
or a facility operated by or under contract with a local mental |
|
|
health authority, unless the facility is licensed under Chapter |
|
|
577; |
|
|
(2) a hospital, or the emergency department of a |
|
|
hospital, licensed under Chapter 241; and |
|
|
(3) a freestanding emergency medical care facility |
|
|
licensed under Chapter 254. |
|
|
(b) The governing body of a facility may adopt and implement |
|
|
a written policy authorizing a physician at the facility to |
|
|
temporarily detain a person who voluntarily requested treatment |
|
|
from the facility or who lacks the capacity to consent to treatment, |
|
|
as provided by this section, if: |
|
|
(1) the person expresses a desire to leave the |
|
|
facility or attempts to leave the facility before the examination |
|
|
or treatment is completed; and |
|
|
(2) the physician: |
|
|
(A) has reason to believe and does believe that: |
|
|
(i) the person has a mental illness; and |
|
|
(ii) because of that mental illness there |
|
|
is a substantial risk of serious harm to the person or to others |
|
|
unless the person is immediately restrained; and |
|
|
(B) believes there is insufficient time to file |
|
|
an application for emergency detention or for an order of |
|
|
protective custody. |
|
|
(c) A policy a facility adopts and implements under this |
|
|
section may not authorize a physician at the facility to detain a |
|
|
person who has been transported to the facility for emergency |
|
|
detention under this chapter. |
|
|
(d) A policy a facility adopts and implements under this |
|
|
section must require: |
|
|
(1) the facility staff or the physician who intends to |
|
|
detain the person under the policy to notify the person of that |
|
|
intention; |
|
|
(2) a physician to document a decision to detain a |
|
|
person under the policy and to place a notice of detention in the |
|
|
person's medical record that contains the same information as |
|
|
required in a peace officer's notification of detention under |
|
|
Section 573.002; and |
|
|
(3) the period of a person's detention under the policy |
|
|
to be less than four hours following the time the person first |
|
|
expressed a desire to leave or attempted to leave the facility, and |
|
|
the physician to release the person not later than the end of the |
|
|
four-hour period unless the facility staff or physician arranges |
|
|
for a peace officer to take the person into custody under Section |
|
|
573.001 or a judge or magistrate issues an order of protective |
|
|
custody. |
|
|
(e) Detention of a person under a policy a facility adopts |
|
|
and implements under this section is not considered involuntary |
|
|
psychiatric hospitalization for purposes of Section 411.172(e), |
|
|
Government Code. |
|
|
(f) A physician, facility staff, or facility that detains or |
|
|
does not detain a person under a policy a facility adopts and |
|
|
implements under this section and that acts in good faith and |
|
|
without malice is not civilly or criminally liable for that action. |
|
|
(g) A facility is not civilly or criminally liable for the |
|
|
decision of the facility's governing body to adopt or not to adopt a |
|
|
policy under this section. |
|
|
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025. |