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Senate Bill 1326 |
Senate Author: Zaffirini et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-17 |
House Sponsor: Price et al. |
Senate Bill 1326 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure, Government Code, and Health and Safety Code to authorize a county or counties jointly to develop and implement a jail-based competency restoration program through which an applicable county contracts with a provider of jail-based competency restoration services that is a local mental health authority or local behavioral health authority that is in good standing with the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC). The bill sets out requirements for a county jail-based competency restoration program and HHSC program monitoring requirements.
Senate Bill 1326 requires a court, with certain exceptions, to commit a defendant who is incompetent to stand trial and charged with an offense punishable as a Class B misdemeanor to a jail-based competency restoration program or release the defendant on bail. The bill establishes a court's authority to order a defendant to an outpatient competency restoration program or competency restoration services in another facility. The bill changes the maximum period for which temporary inpatient or outpatient mental health services may be authorized in the applicable court order. The bill revises the conditions under which a defendant with a mental illness or intellectual disability may be released on personal bond. The bill revises the duty of a sheriff or municipal jailor to provide notice to a magistrate regarding a defendant suspected of having mental illness or intellectual disability and removes the authorization for a magistrate to order such a defendant to certain state run facilities for a competency examination. The bill sets out requirements for an expert's written assessment of such a defendant and includes among the actions a trial court may take regarding the defendant referring the defendant to an appropriate specialty court. The bill requires the Office of Court Administration to collect certain information from specialty courts in Texas regarding outcomes of participants in those specialty courts who are persons with mental illness.