By:  Zaffirini                                         S.B. No. 834
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to treatment of chemically dependent persons.
    1-2        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-3        SECTION 1.  Subdivision (10), Section 462.001, Health and
    1-4  Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
    1-5              (10)  "Treatment facility" means a public or private
    1-6  hospital, a detoxification facility, a primary care facility, an
    1-7  intensive care facility, a long-term care facility, an outpatient
    1-8  care facility, a community mental health center, a health
    1-9  maintenance organization, a recovery center, a halfway house, an
   1-10  ambulatory care facility, another facility that is required to be
   1-11  licensed and approved by the commission, <or> a facility licensed
   1-12  <or operated> by the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental
   1-13  Retardation, or a facility operated by the Texas Department of
   1-14  Mental Health and Mental Retardation which has been designated by
   1-15  the commission to provide chemical dependency treatment.  The term
   1-16  does not include an educational program for intoxicated drivers or
   1-17  the individual office of a private, licensed health care
   1-18  practitioner who personally renders private individual or group
   1-19  services within the scope of the practitioner's license and in the
   1-20  practitioner's office.
   1-21        SECTION 2.  Section 462.021, Health and Safety Code, is
   1-22  amended to read as follows:
   1-23        Sec. 462.021.  VOLUNTARY ADMISSION OF ADULT.  A facility may
    2-1  admit an adult who requests admission for emergency or nonemergency
    2-2  treatment or rehabilitation if:
    2-3              (1)  the facility is:
    2-4                    (A)  a treatment facility licensed by the
    2-5  commission to provide the necessary services; <or>
    2-6                    (B)  a facility licensed <or operated> by the
    2-7  Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation; or
    2-8                    (C)  a facility operated by the Texas Department
    2-9  of Mental Health and Mental Retardation which has been designated
   2-10  by the commission to provide chemical dependency treatment; and
   2-11              (2)  the admission is appropriate under the facility's
   2-12  admission policies.
   2-13        SECTION 3.  Subsection (a), Section 462.022, Health and
   2-14  Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
   2-15        (a)  A facility may admit a minor for treatment and
   2-16  rehabilitation if:
   2-17              (1)  the facility is:
   2-18                    (A)  a treatment facility licensed by the
   2-19  commission to provide the necessary services to minors; <or>
   2-20                    (B)  a facility licensed <or operated> by the
   2-21  Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation; or
   2-22                    (C)  a facility operated by the Texas Department
   2-23  of Mental Health and Mental Retardation which has been designated
   2-24  by the commission to provide chemical dependency treatment;
   2-25              (2)  the admission is appropriate under the facility's
    3-1  admission policies; and
    3-2              (3)  the admission is requested by:
    3-3                    (A)  a parent or other person authorized to
    3-4  consent to medical treatment of a minor under Section 35.01, Family
    3-5  Code; or
    3-6                    (B)  the minor, without parental consent, under
    3-7  Section 35.03, Family Code.
    3-8        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-9  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   3-10  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   3-11  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   3-12  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   3-13  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   3-14  passage, and it is so enacted.