By Coleman                                            H.B. No. 2425
         76R8754 KLA-D                           
                                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 consent to the
1-22     voluntary admission of the person to a public or private in-patient
1-23     psychiatric facility for care and treatment if the person does not
1-24     meet the criteria for court-ordered mental health services under
 2-1     Chapter 574, Health and Safety Code.  The court shall appoint an
 2-2     attorney ad litem for the incapacitated person, hold a hearing, and
 2-3     issue an order approving or denying the application not later than
 2-4     72 hours after the time the application is filed with the court.
 2-5     The court shall grant the application and authorize the guardian to
 2-6     consent to the voluntary admission of the person to an in-patient
 2-7     psychiatric facility for care and 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 court finds that the admission is medically
2-11     necessary based on the testimony or affidavit of a psychiatrist
2-12     licensed in this state who examined the person.
2-13           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-14           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-15     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-16     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-17     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-18     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.