1-1     By:  Thompson (Senate Sponsor - Ellis)                 H.B. No. 591

 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 4, 1997;

 1-3     April 8, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on

 1-4     Jurisprudence; April 23, 1997, reported favorably by the following

 1-5     vote:  Yeas 4, Nays 1; April 23, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to fees and costs for certain mental health proceedings.

 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-10           SECTION 1.  Sections 574.031(h) and (i), Health and Safety

1-11     Code,  are amended to read as follows:

1-12           (h)  A judge who holds a hearing under this section in

1-13     hospitals or locations other than the county courthouse is entitled

1-14     to be reimbursed for the judge's reasonable and necessary expenses

1-15     related to holding a hearing at that location.  The expenses shall

1-16     be:

1-17                 (1)  collected as court costs in an amount set by the

1-18     commissioners court  of the county responsible for the costs of the

1-19     hearing under Section 571.018(a); and

1-20                 (2)  paid directly to the judge.

1-21           (i)  A judge who holds hearings at locations other than the

1-22     county courthouse also may receive a reasonable salary supplement

1-23     in an amount set by the commissioners court of the county

1-24     responsible for the costs of the hearing under Section 571.018(a)

1-25     and paid directly to the judge.

1-26           SECTION 2.  Section 574.031, Health and Safety Code, is

1-27     amended by adding Subsection (j) to read as follows:

1-28           (j)  A fee taxed as costs in an amount not to exceed $25 may

1-29     be assessed as a court cost by the judge trying a mental health

1-30     services case against a county responsible for payment of costs

1-31     under Section 571.018 for the services of a prosecuting attorney.

1-32           SECTION 3.  Section 571.018(c), Health and Safety Code, is

1-33     amended to read as follows:

1-34           (c)  Costs under this section include:

1-35                 (1)  attorney's fees;

1-36                 (2)  physician examination fees;

1-37                 (3)  compensation for court-appointed personnel listed

1-38     under Section 571.017; [and]

1-39                 (4)  expenses of transportation to a department mental

1-40     health facility or to a federal agency;

1-41                 (5)  costs and salary supplements as provided by

1-42     Sections 574.031(h) and (i); and

1-43                 (6)  prosecutor's fees as authorized under Section

1-44     574.031(j).

1-45           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-46     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-47     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-48     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-49     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

1-50     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

1-51     passage, and it is so enacted.

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