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.