By:  Moncrief                                         S.B. No. 1439
         99S0831/1                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to the timeliness of medical examinations for mental
 1-2     illness for certain court-ordered mental health services.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 574.009, Health and
 1-5     Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
 1-6           (a)  A hearing on an application for court-ordered mental
 1-7     health services may not be held unless there are on file with the
 1-8     court at least two certificates of medical examination for mental
 1-9     illness completed by different physicians each of whom has examined
1-10     the proposed patient during the preceding 45 [30] days.  At least
1-11     one of the physicians must be a psychiatrist if a psychiatrist is
1-12     available in the county.
1-13           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-14           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-15     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-16     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-17     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-18     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.