1-1 By: Tillery (Senate Sponsor - Carona) H.B. No. 1797 1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 3, 1999; 1-3 May 3, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on Human 1-4 Services; May 12, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote: 1-5 Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 12, 1999, sent to printer.) 1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-7 AN ACT 1-8 relating to the transportation of certain individuals who may have 1-9 a mental illness and are admitted to a county mental health 1-10 facility for emergency detention. 1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-12 SECTION 1. Section 573.022, Health and Safety Code, is 1-13 amended to read as follows: 1-14 Sec. 573.022. EMERGENCY ADMISSION AND DETENTION. (a) A 1-15 person may be admitted to a facility for emergency detention only 1-16 if the physician who conducted the preliminary examination of the 1-17 person makes a written statement that: 1-18 (1) is acceptable to the facility; 1-19 (2) states that after a preliminary examination it is 1-20 the physician's opinion that: 1-21 (A) the person is mentally ill; 1-22 (B) the person evidences a substantial risk of 1-23 serious harm to himself or others; 1-24 (C) the described risk of harm is imminent 1-25 unless the person is immediately restrained; and 1-26 (D) emergency detention is the least restrictive 1-27 means by which the necessary restraint may be accomplished; and 1-28 (3) includes: 1-29 (A) a description of the nature of the person's 1-30 mental illness; 1-31 (B) a specific description of the risk of harm 1-32 the person evidences that may be demonstrated either by the 1-33 person's behavior or by evidence of severe emotional distress and 1-34 deterioration in the person's mental condition to the extent that 1-35 the person cannot remain at liberty; and 1-36 (C) the specific detailed information from which 1-37 the physician formed the opinion in Subdivision (2). 1-38 (b) A county mental health facility that has admitted a 1-39 person for emergency detention under this section may transport the 1-40 person to: 1-41 (1) a facility of the single portal authority for the 1-42 area; 1-43 (2) an appropriate inpatient mental health facility, 1-44 if no single portal authority serves the area; or 1-45 (3) a facility deemed suitable by the county's mental 1-46 health authority, if no single portal authority serves the area and 1-47 an appropriate inpatient mental health facility is not available. 1-48 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the 1-49 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 1-50 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 1-51 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 1-52 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 1-53 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 1-54 passage, and it is so enacted. 1-55 * * * * *