By Hartnett                                           H.B. No. 2892
         76R9705 SMJ-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the procedures for returning an absent patient to a
 1-3     facility for court-ordered treatment or care.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 574.083, Health and Safety Code, is
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 574.083.  RETURN TO FACILITY UNDER [FACILITY
 1-8     ADMINISTRATOR'S CERTIFICATE OR] COURT ORDER.  (a)  The facility
 1-9     administrator of a facility to which a patient was admitted for
1-10     court-ordered inpatient health care services may have an absent
1-11     patient taken into custody, detained, and returned to the facility
1-12     by filing an affidavit as prescribed by Subsection (c)[:]
1-13                 [(1)  signing a certificate authorizing the patient's
1-14     return; or]
1-15                 [(2)  filing the certificate] with a magistrate and
1-16     requesting the magistrate to order the patient's return.
1-17           (b)  A magistrate may issue an order directing a peace or
1-18     health officer to take a patient into custody and return the
1-19     patient to the facility if the facility administrator files the
1-20     affidavit [certificate as] prescribed by Subsection (c) [this
1-21     section].  An order issued under this subsection extends to any
1-22     part of this state and authorizes any peace officer to whom the
1-23     order is directed or transferred to execute the order.
1-24           (c)  An affidavit filed under Subsection (a)  must set out
 2-1     facts establishing that the patient is receiving court-ordered
 2-2     inpatient mental health services at a facility and show that [The
 2-3     facility administrator may sign or file the certificate if] the
 2-4     facility administrator reasonably believes that:
 2-5                 (1)  the patient is absent without authority from the
 2-6     facility;
 2-7                 (2)  the patient has violated the conditions of a pass
 2-8     or furlough; or
 2-9                 (3)  the patient's condition has deteriorated to the
2-10     extent that the patient's continued absence from the facility under
2-11     a pass or furlough is inappropriate.
2-12           (d)  A peace or health officer shall take the patient into
2-13     custody and return the patient to the facility as soon as possible
2-14     if the patient's return is authorized by [the facility
2-15     administrator's certificate or] the court order.
2-16           (e)  The peace or health officer may take the patient into
2-17     custody without having the [certificate or] court order in the
2-18     officer's possession.
2-19           (f)  A peace or health officer who cannot immediately return
2-20     a patient to the facility named in the order may transport the
2-21     patient to a local facility for detention.  The patient may not be
2-22     detained in a nonmedical facility that is used to detain persons
2-23     who are charged with or convicted of a crime unless detention in
2-24     the facility is warranted by an extreme emergency.  If the patient
2-25     is detained at a nonmedical facility:
2-26                 (1)  the patient:
2-27                       (A)  may not be detained in the facility for more
 3-1     than 24 hours; and
 3-2                       (B)  must be isolated from all persons charged
 3-3     with or convicted of a crime; and
 3-4                 (2)  the facility must notify the county health
 3-5     authority of the detention.
 3-6           (g)  The county health authority shall ensure that a patient
 3-7     detained in a nonmedical facility under Subsection (f) receives
 3-8     proper care and medical attention.
 3-9           (h)  Notwithstanding other law regarding confidentiality of
3-10     patient information, the facility administrator may release to a
3-11     law enforcement official information about the patient if the
3-12     administrator determines the information is needed to facilitate
3-13     the return of the patient to the facility.
3-14           SECTION 2.  Section 593.012, Health and Safety Code, is
3-15     amended to read as follows:
3-16           Sec. 593.012.  ABSENT WITHOUT AUTHORITY [PERMISSION].  (a)
3-17     The superintendent of a residential care facility to which a client
3-18     has been admitted for court-ordered care and treatment may have a
3-19     client who is absent without authority taken into custody,
3-20     detained, and returned to the facility by filing an affidavit with
3-21     a magistrate in the manner prescribed by Section 574.083 [may
3-22     immediately issue an order authorizing a peace officer to detain a
3-23     resident committed to the facility under Subchapter C who is absent
3-24     from the facility without proper permission].
3-25           (b)  The client shall be returned to the residential care
3-26     facility in accordance with the procedures prescribed by Section
3-27     574.083 [A peace officer shall immediately notify the
 4-1     superintendent when the officer takes a resident into custody and
 4-2     shall promptly arrange the return of the resident to the assigned
 4-3     facility on request of the superintendent].
 4-4           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 4-5     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 4-6     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 4-7     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 4-8     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 4-9     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-10     passage, and it is so enacted.