By Thompson                                            H.B. No. 591

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to fees and costs for certain mental health proceedings.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Sections 574.031(h) and (i), Health and Safety

 1-5     Code,  are amended to read as follows:

 1-6           (h)  A judge who holds a hearing under this section in

 1-7     hospitals or locations other than the county courthouse is entitled

 1-8     to be reimbursed for the judge's reasonable and necessary expenses

 1-9     related to holding a hearing at that location.  The expenses shall

1-10     be:

1-11                 (1)  collected as court costs in an amount set by the

1-12     commissioners court  of the county responsible for the costs of the

1-13     hearing under Section 571.018(a); and

1-14                 (2)  paid directly to the judge.

1-15           (i)  A judge who holds hearings at locations other than the

1-16     county courthouse also may receive a reasonable salary supplement

1-17     in an amount set by the commissioners court of the county

1-18     responsible for the costs of the hearing under Section 571.018(a)

1-19     and paid directly to the judge.

1-20           SECTION 2.  Section 574.031, Health and Safety Code, is

1-21     amended by adding Subsection (j) to read as follows:

1-22           (j)  A fee taxed as costs in an amount not to exceed $25 may

1-23     be assessed as a court cost by the judge trying a mental health

1-24     services case against a county responsible for payment of costs

 2-1     under Section 571.018 for the services of a prosecuting attorney.

 2-2           SECTION 3.  Section 571.018(c), Health and Safety Code, is

 2-3     amended to read as follows:

 2-4           (c)  Costs under this section include:

 2-5                 (1)  attorney's fees;

 2-6                 (2)  physician examination fees;

 2-7                 (3)  compensation for court-appointed personnel listed

 2-8     under Section 571.017; [and]

 2-9                 (4)  expenses of transportation to a department mental

2-10     health facility or to a federal agency;

2-11                 (5)  costs and salary supplements as provided by

2-12     Sections 574.031(h) and (i); and

2-13                 (6)  prosecutor's fees as authorized under Section

2-14     574.031(j).

2-15           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-16     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-17     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-18     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-19     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-20     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-21     passage, and it is so enacted.