1-1     By:  Naishtat (Senate Sponsor - Moncrief)             H.B. No. 1312

 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 21, 1997;

 1-3     April 22, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on

 1-4     Jurisprudence; May 6, 1997, reported favorably by the following

 1-5     vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 6, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to modification of an order for outpatient mental health

 1-9     services and the temporary detention of a patient pending hearing

1-10     on the modification.

1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-12           SECTION 1.  Section 574.062, Health and Safety Code, is

1-13     amended by adding Subsections (d) and (e) to read as follows:

1-14           (d)  The court shall set a date for a hearing on the motion

1-15     to be held not later than the seventh day after the date the motion

1-16     is filed.  The court may grant one or more continuances of the

1-17     hearing on the motion by a party and for good cause shown or on

1-18     agreement of the parties.  Except as provided by Subsection (e),

1-19     the court shall hold the hearing not later than the 14th day after

1-20     the date the motion is filed.

1-21           (e)  If extremely hazardous weather conditions exist or a

1-22     disaster occurs that threatens the safety of the proposed patient

1-23     or other essential parties to the hearing, the court, by written

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

1-25     hours.  The written order must declare that an emergency exists

1-26     because of the weather or the occurrence of a disaster.

1-27           SECTION 2.  Section 574.064, Health and Safety Code, is

1-28     amended by amending Subsections (b)-(d) and adding Subsections (e)

1-29     and (f) to read as follows:

1-30           (b)  A patient may be detained under a temporary detention

1-31     order for [not] more than 72 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays,

1-32     legal holidays, and the period prescribed by Section 574.025(b) for

1-33     an extreme emergency only if, after a hearing held before the

1-34     expiration of that period, the court, a magistrate, or a designated

1-35     master finds that there is probable cause to believe that:

1-36                 (1)  the patient meets the criteria described by

1-37     Section 574.065(a); and

1-38                 (2)  detention in an inpatient mental health facility

1-39     is necessary to evaluate the appropriate setting for continued

1-40     court-ordered services.

1-41           (c)  If probable cause is found under Subsection (b), the

1-42     patient may be detained under the temporary detention until the

1-43     hearing set under Section 574.062 is completed.

1-44           (d)  A facility administrator shall immediately release a

1-45     patient held under a temporary detention order if the facility

1-46     administrator does not receive notice that the patient's continued

1-47     detention is authorized:

1-48                 (1)  after a probable cause hearing held within 72

1-49     hours after the patient's detention begins; or

1-50                 (2)  after a modification hearing held within the

1-51     period prescribed by Section 574.062 [Subsection (b)].

1-52           (e) [(d)]  A patient released from an inpatient mental health

1-53     facility under Subsection (d) [(c)] continues to be subject to the

1-54     order for court-ordered outpatient services, if the order has not

1-55     expired.

1-56           (f)  A person detained under this section may not be detained

1-57     in a nonmedical facility used to detain persons charged with or

1-58     convicted of a crime.

1-59           SECTION 3.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

1-60     applies only to:

1-61                 (1)  the temporary detention of a person subject to a

1-62     court order for outpatient mental health services for which the

1-63     application is filed on or after that date; and

1-64                 (2)  a motion to modify an order for outpatient mental

 2-1     health services filed on or after that date.

 2-2           (b)  An order for temporary detention or an order modifying

 2-3     an order for outpatient mental health services for which the

 2-4     application or motion is filed before September 1, 1997, is

 2-5     governed by the law in existence on the date the application or

 2-6     motion is filed.  Those laws are continued in effect for those

 2-7     purposes.

 2-8           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-9     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-10     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-11     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-12     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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