By:  Dutton                                            H.B. No. 508
       73R2331 GWK-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the keeping of suspected mentally ill persons in jail.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Article 15.17, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
    1-5  amended by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
    1-6        (e)  If the magistrate has reason to believe that an accused
    1-7  charged with a misdemeanor is mentally ill and that because of the
    1-8  mental illness the accused represents a substantial risk of serious
    1-9  harm to himself or others, the magistrate shall order that the
   1-10  accused be taken to the nearest appropriate mental health facility
   1-11  for emergency detention proceedings under Chapter 573, Health and
   1-12  Safety Code.
   1-13        SECTION 2.  Section 573.001(e), Health and Safety Code, is
   1-14  amended to read as follows:
   1-15        (e)  A jail or similar detention facility may not be deemed
   1-16  suitable <except in an extreme emergency>.
   1-17        SECTION 3.  Section 573.001(f), Health and Safety Code, is
   1-18  repealed.
   1-19        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-20  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-21  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-22  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-23  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   1-24  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    2-1  passage, and it is so enacted.