By:  Armbrister                                         S.B. No. 78
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the authority of the Texas Department of Mental Health
    1-2  and Mental Retardation to designate an alternative living facility
    1-3  to provide mental health services.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subdivision (9), Section 571.003, Health and
    1-6  Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
    1-7              (9)  "Inpatient mental health facility" means a mental
    1-8  health facility that can provide 24-hour residential and
    1-9  psychiatric services and that is:
   1-10                    (A)  a facility operated by the department;
   1-11                    (B)  a private mental hospital licensed by the
   1-12  department;
   1-13                    (C)  a community center;
   1-14                    (D)  a facility operated by a community center or
   1-15  other entity the department designates to provide mental health
   1-16  services, including an alternative living facility;
   1-17                    (E)  an identifiable part of a general hospital
   1-18  in which diagnosis, treatment, and care for persons with mental
   1-19  illness is provided and that is licensed by the department or the
   1-20  Texas Department of Health; or
   1-21                    (F)  a hospital operated by a federal agency.
   1-22        SECTION 2.  Subchapter A, Chapter 571, Health and Safety
   1-23  Code, is amended by adding Section 571.0045 to read as follows:
   1-24        Sec. 571.0045.  PROVISION OF MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES IN AN
    2-1  ALTERNATIVE LIVING FACILITY.  (a)  The department may designate an
    2-2  alternative living facility to provide mental health services to
    2-3  one or more patients who have severe mental impairments.
    2-4        (b)  A patient may be admitted or transferred to a designated
    2-5  facility only if the department determines that the patient can be
    2-6  adequately cared for in an alternative living facility rather than
    2-7  in a mental hospital.
    2-8        (c)  In transferring patients from a state mental hospital to
    2-9  an alternative living facility, the department shall give priority
   2-10  to a patient who cannot be treated in the community and whose only
   2-11  choice for treatment other than an alternative living facility is
   2-12  an acute care or state mental hospital.
   2-13        (d)  The department by rule shall prescribe the conditions
   2-14  and procedures under which a patient may be admitted or transferred
   2-15  to a designated facility.   The rules must specifically address
   2-16  ways to protect the welfare of the patient and the efficiency of
   2-17  appropriate admission and transfer procedures.
   2-18        (e)  An alternative living facility designated to provide
   2-19  court-ordered mental health services must be licensed under Chapter
   2-20  577.
   2-21        SECTION 3.  Subchapter B, Chapter 575, Health and Safety
   2-22  Code, is amended by adding Section 575.018 to read as follows:
   2-23        Sec. 575.018.  TRANSFER TO DESIGNATED SKILLED NURSING
   2-24  FACILITY.  (a)  The department may transfer a patient, if the
   2-25  transfer is considered advisable, from a state mental hospital to
   2-26  an alternative living facility designated by the department to
   2-27  provide court-ordered mental health services.
    3-1        (b)  The department shall provide to the committing court
    3-2  written notice of the transfer before transferring a patient under
    3-3  this section.
    3-4        SECTION 4.  Chapter 577, Health and Safety Code, is amended
    3-5  by adding Section 577.0105 to read as follows:
    3-6        Sec. 577.0105.  RULES AND STANDARDS RELATING TO ALTERNATIVE
    3-7  LIVING FACILITIES.  (a)  The board by rule shall adopt rules and
    3-8  standards the board considers necessary and appropriate to ensure
    3-9  the proper care and treatment of patients in an alternative living
   3-10  facility licensed under this chapter.
   3-11        (b)  The standards for an alternative living facility must be
   3-12  appropriate to ensure the health and safety of the patients in the
   3-13  facility.
   3-14        SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   3-15        SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
   3-16  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   3-17  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   3-18  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   3-19  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.