By Farabee                                            H.B. No. 1072
         77R1291 JJT-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to authorizing a peace officer or health officer to take
 1-3     into custody, detain, and return to a treatment facility a patient
 1-4     or client under a court order for treatment at the facility.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Section 574.083, Health and Safety Code, is
 1-7     amended by amending the heading and Subsections (a)-(e) to read as
 1-8     follows:
 1-9           Sec. 574.083.  RETURN TO FACILITY UNDER CERTIFICATE OF
1-10     FACILITY ADMINISTRATOR OR COURT ORDER. (a)  The facility
1-11     administrator of a facility to which a patient was admitted for
1-12     court-ordered inpatient health care services may authorize a peace
1-13     officer of the municipality or county in which the facility is
1-14     located to take [have] an absent patient [taken] into custody,
1-15     detain the patient, and return the patient [detained, and returned]
1-16     to the facility by issuing a certificate [filing an affidavit] as
1-17     prescribed by Subsection (c) to a law enforcement agency of the
1-18     municipality or county.
1-19           (b)  If there is reason to believe that an absent patient may
1-20     be outside the municipality or county in which the facility is
1-21     located, the facility administrator may file an affidavit as
1-22     prescribed by Subsection (c) with a magistrate [and] requesting the
1-23     magistrate to issue an order for the patient's return.  The
1-24     [(b)  A] magistrate with whom the affidavit is filed may issue an
 2-1     order directing a peace or health officer to take an absent [a]
 2-2     patient into custody and return the patient to the facility [if the
 2-3     facility administrator files the affidavit prescribed by Subsection
 2-4     (c)]. An order issued under this subsection extends to any part of
 2-5     this state and authorizes any peace officer to whom the order is
 2-6     directed or transferred to execute the order, take the patient into
 2-7     custody, detain the patient, and return the patient to the
 2-8     facility.
 2-9           (c)  The certificate or [An] affidavit filed under Subsection
2-10     (a)  or (b) must set out facts establishing that the patient is
2-11     receiving court-ordered inpatient mental health services at the [a]
2-12     facility and show that the facility administrator reasonably
2-13     believes that:
2-14                 (1)  the patient is absent without authority from the
2-15     facility;
2-16                 (2)  the patient has violated the conditions of a pass
2-17     or furlough; or
2-18                 (3)  the patient's condition has deteriorated to the
2-19     extent that the patient's continued absence from the facility under
2-20     a pass or furlough is inappropriate.
2-21           (d)  A peace or health officer shall take the patient into
2-22     custody and return the patient to the facility as soon as possible
2-23     if the patient's return is authorized by a certificate filed or
2-24     [the] court order issued under this section.
2-25           (e)  A [The] peace or health officer may take the patient
2-26     into custody without having the court order in the officer's
2-27     possession.
 3-1           SECTION 2.  Section 593.012(a), Health and Safety Code, is
 3-2     amended to read as follows:
 3-3           (a)  The superintendent of a residential care facility to
 3-4     which a client has been admitted for court-ordered care and
 3-5     treatment may have a client who is absent without authority taken
 3-6     into custody, detained, and returned to the facility by filing a
 3-7     certificate with a law enforcement agency of the municipality or
 3-8     county in which the facility is located or an affidavit with a
 3-9     magistrate in the manner prescribed by Section 574.083.
3-10           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.