By Tillery                                            H.B. No. 1797
         76R4765 JJT-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the transportation of certain individuals who may have
 1-3     a mental illness and are admitted to a county mental health
 1-4     facility for emergency detention.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Section 573.022, Health and Safety Code, is
 1-7     amended to read as follows:
 1-8           Sec. 573.022.  EMERGENCY ADMISSION AND DETENTION.  (a) A
 1-9     person may be admitted to a facility for emergency detention only
1-10     if the physician who conducted the preliminary examination of the
1-11     person makes a written statement that:
1-12                 (1)  is acceptable to the facility;
1-13                 (2)  states that after a preliminary examination it is
1-14     the physician's opinion that:
1-15                       (A)  the person is mentally ill;
1-16                       (B)  the person evidences a substantial risk of
1-17     serious harm to himself or others;
1-18                       (C)  the described risk of harm is imminent
1-19     unless the person is immediately restrained; and
1-20                       (D)  emergency detention is the least restrictive
1-21     means by which the necessary restraint may be accomplished; and
1-22                 (3)  includes:
1-23                       (A)  a description of the nature of the person's
1-24     mental illness;
 2-1                       (B)  a specific description of the risk of harm
 2-2     the person evidences that may be demonstrated either by the
 2-3     person's behavior or by evidence of severe emotional distress and
 2-4     deterioration in the person's mental condition to the extent that
 2-5     the person cannot remain at liberty; and
 2-6                       (C)  the specific detailed information from which
 2-7     the physician formed the opinion in Subdivision (2).
 2-8           (b)  A county mental health facility that has admitted a
 2-9     person for emergency detention under this section may transport the
2-10     person to:
2-11                 (1)  a facility of the single portal authority for the
2-12     area;
2-13                 (2)  an appropriate inpatient mental health facility,
2-14     if no single portal authority serves the area; or
2-15                 (3)  a facility deemed suitable by the county's mental
2-16     health authority, if no single portal authority serves the area and
2-17     an appropriate inpatient mental health facility is not available.
2-18           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-19     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-20     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-21     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-22     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-23     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-24     passage, and it is so enacted.