By:  Maxey                                            H.B. No. 1713
       73R4944 CBH-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the use of clozaril for schizophrenics.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 533, Health and Safety
    1-5  Code, is amended by adding Section 533.044 to read as follows:
    1-6        Sec. 533.044.  USE OF CLOZARIL FOR CERTAIN PATIENTS.  (a)
    1-7  The department shall place on a clozaril treatment plan each
    1-8  patient in a state hospital for whom the treatment is medically
    1-9  feasible and appropriate.
   1-10        (b)  If a patient in a state hospital responds to a clozaril
   1-11  treatment plan to the extent that the patient can be released from
   1-12  the hospital, the department shall:
   1-13              (1)  assist the patient in applying for disability
   1-14  benefits and for Medicaid if the patient is potentially eligible;
   1-15              (2)  place the patient in a community setting with
   1-16  continuing clozaril treatments and medical monitoring;
   1-17              (3)  provide or ensure that the patient is provided
   1-18  supportive housing, rehabilitation services, and job placement, as
   1-19  appropriate; and
   1-20              (4)  provide outpatient care at state hospitals or
   1-21  require a local mental health authority to provide outpatient care,
   1-22  as appropriate.
   1-23        (c)  The department shall use facility beds vacated by
   1-24  patients released through the use of clozaril only for:
    2-1              (1)  low-risk inmates who need drug or alcohol abuse
    2-2  treatment; and
    2-3              (2)  patients who need inpatient acute care services.
    2-4        SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
    2-5        (b)  Not later than January 1, 1994, the Texas Department of
    2-6  Mental Health and Mental Retardation shall place on a clozaril
    2-7  treatment plan each patient in a state hospital for whom the
    2-8  treatment is medically feasible and appropriate, as required by
    2-9  Section 533.044, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act.
   2-10        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-11  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-12  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-13  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-14  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.