By Naishtat                                           H.B. No. 1312

         75R6795 JJT-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to modification of an order for outpatient mental health

 1-3     services and the temporary detention of a patient pending hearing

 1-4     on the modification.

 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-6           SECTION 1.  Section 574.062, Health and Safety Code, is

 1-7     amended by adding Subsections (d) and (e) to read as follows:

 1-8           (d)  The court shall set a date for a hearing on the motion

 1-9     to be held not later than the seventh day after the date the motion

1-10     is filed.  The court may grant one or more continuances of the

1-11     hearing on the motion by a party and for good cause shown or on

1-12     agreement of the parties.  Except as provided by Subsection (e),

1-13     the court shall hold the hearing not later than the 14th day after

1-14     the date the motion is filed.

1-15           (e)  If extremely hazardous weather conditions exist or a

1-16     disaster occurs that threatens the safety of the proposed patient

1-17     or other essential parties to the hearing, the court, by written

1-18     order made each day, may postpone the hearing for not more than 24

1-19     hours.  The written order must declare that an emergency exists

1-20     because of the weather or the occurrence of a disaster.

1-21           SECTION 2.  Section 574.064, Health and Safety Code, is

1-22     amended by amending Subsections (b)-(d) and adding Subsections (e)

1-23     and (f) to read as follows:

1-24           (b)  A patient may be detained under a temporary detention

 2-1     order for [not] more than 72 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays,

 2-2     legal holidays, and the period prescribed by Section 574.025(b) for

 2-3     an extreme emergency only if, after a hearing held before the

 2-4     expiration of that period, the court, a magistrate, or a designated

 2-5     master finds that there is probable cause to believe that:

 2-6                 (1)  the patient meets the criteria described by

 2-7     Section 574.065(a); and

 2-8                 (2)  detention in an inpatient mental health facility

 2-9     is necessary to evaluate the appropriate setting for continued

2-10     court-ordered services.

2-11           (c)  If probable cause is found under Subsection (b), the

2-12     patient may be detained under the temporary detention until the

2-13     hearing set under Section 574.062 is completed.

2-14           (d)  A facility administrator shall immediately release a

2-15     patient held under a temporary detention order if the facility

2-16     administrator does not receive notice that the patient's continued

2-17     detention is authorized:

2-18                 (1)  after a probable cause hearing held within 72

2-19     hours after the patient's detention begins; or

2-20                 (2)  after a modification hearing held within the

2-21     period prescribed by Section 574.062 [Subsection (b)].

2-22           (e) [(d)]  A patient released from an inpatient mental health

2-23     facility under Subsection (d) [(c)] continues to be subject to the

2-24     order for court-ordered outpatient services, if the order has not

2-25     expired.

2-26           (f)  A person detained under this section may not be detained

2-27     in a nonmedical facility used to detain persons charged with or

 3-1     convicted of a crime.

 3-2           SECTION 3.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

 3-3     applies only to:

 3-4                 (1)  the temporary detention of a person subject to a

 3-5     court order for outpatient mental health services for which the

 3-6     application is filed on or after that date; and

 3-7                 (2)  a motion to modify an order for outpatient mental

 3-8     health services filed on or after that date.

 3-9           (b)  An order for temporary detention or an order modifying

3-10     an order for outpatient mental health services for which the

3-11     application or motion is filed before September 1, 1997, is

3-12     governed by the law in existence on the date the application or

3-13     motion is filed.  Those laws are continued in effect for those

3-14     purposes.

3-15           SECTION 4.  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.