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1-18 repealed.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.