By Thompson H.B. No. 2951
75R5665 BEM-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the provision of inpatient mental health services to
1-3 certain incapacitated persons.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 770, Texas Probate Code, is amended by
1-6 amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (e) to read as
1-7 follows:
1-8 (b) Except as provided by Subsection (c), [or] (d), or (e)
1-9 of this section, a guardian may not voluntarily admit an
1-10 incapacitated person to a public or private in-patient psychiatric
1-11 facility or to a residential facility operated by the Texas
1-12 Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation for care and
1-13 treatment. If care and treatment in a psychiatric or a residential
1-14 facility are necessary, the person or the person's guardian may
1-15 apply for services under Section 593.027 or 593.028, Health and
1-16 Safety Code, or apply to a court to commit the person under
1-17 Subtitle D, Title 7, Health and Safety Code (Persons with Mental
1-18 Retardation Act), Subtitle C, Title 7, Health and Safety Code
1-19 (Texas Mental Health Code), or Chapter 462, Health and Safety Code.
1-20 (e) A guardian of an incapacitated person may apply to the
1-21 court that granted the guardianship for authority to voluntarily
1-22 admit the person to a public or private in-patient psychiatric
1-23 facility for care and treatment if the person does not meet the
1-24 criteria for court-ordered mental health services under Chapter
2-1 574, Health and Safety Code. The court shall appoint an attorney
2-2 ad litem for the incapacitated person, hold a hearing, and issue an
2-3 order approving or denying the application within 72 hours of the
2-4 time the application is filed with the court. The court shall
2-5 grant the application and authorize the guardian to voluntarily
2-6 admit the person to an in-patient psychiatric facility for care and
2-7 treatment only if:
2-8 (1) the court finds that the admission would be in the
2-9 person's best interest; and
2-10 (2) the person does not object to being placed in the
2-11 facility.
2-12 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
2-13 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-14 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-15 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-16 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-17 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.