1-1 By: Farabee (Senate Sponsor - Moncrief) H.B. No. 1072
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 1, 2001;
1-3 May 2, 2001, read first time and referred to Committee on Health
1-4 and Human Services; May 8, 2001, reported favorably by the
1-5 following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 8, 2001, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to authorizing a peace officer or health officer to take
1-9 into custody, detain, and return to a treatment facility a patient
1-10 or client under a court order for treatment at the facility.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Section 574.083, Health and Safety Code, is
1-13 amended by amending the heading and Subsections (a)-(e) to read as
1-14 follows:
1-15 Sec. 574.083. RETURN TO FACILITY UNDER CERTIFICATE OF
1-16 FACILITY ADMINISTRATOR OR COURT ORDER. (a) The facility
1-17 administrator of a facility to which a patient was admitted for
1-18 court-ordered inpatient health care services may authorize a peace
1-19 officer of the municipality or county in which the facility is
1-20 located to take [have] an absent patient [taken] into custody,
1-21 detain the patient, and return the patient [detained, and returned]
1-22 to the facility by issuing a certificate [filing an affidavit] as
1-23 prescribed by Subsection (c) to a law enforcement agency of the
1-24 municipality or county.
1-25 (b) If there is reason to believe that an absent patient may
1-26 be outside the municipality or county in which the facility is
1-27 located, the facility administrator may file an affidavit as
1-28 prescribed by Subsection (c) with a magistrate [and] requesting the
1-29 magistrate to issue an order for the patient's return. The
1-30 [(b) A] magistrate with whom the affidavit is filed may issue an
1-31 order directing a peace or health officer to take an absent [a]
1-32 patient into custody and return the patient to the facility [if the
1-33 facility administrator files the affidavit prescribed by Subsection
1-34 (c)]. An order issued under this subsection extends to any part of
1-35 this state and authorizes any peace officer to whom the order is
1-36 directed or transferred to execute the order, take the patient into
1-37 custody, detain the patient, and return the patient to the
1-38 facility.
1-39 (c) The certificate issued or [An] affidavit filed under
1-40 Subsection (a) or (b) must set out facts establishing that the
1-41 patient is receiving court-ordered inpatient mental health services
1-42 at the [a] facility and show that the facility administrator
1-43 reasonably believes that:
1-44 (1) the patient is absent without authority from the
1-45 facility;
1-46 (2) the patient has violated the conditions of a pass
1-47 or furlough; or
1-48 (3) the patient's condition has deteriorated to the
1-49 extent that the patient's continued absence from the facility under
1-50 a pass or furlough is inappropriate.
1-51 (d) A peace or health officer shall take the patient into
1-52 custody and return the patient to the facility as soon as possible
1-53 if the patient's return is authorized by a certificate issued or
1-54 [the] court order issued under this section.
1-55 (e) A [The] peace or health officer may take the patient
1-56 into custody without having the certificate or court order in the
1-57 officer's possession.
1-58 SECTION 2. Section 593.012(a), Health and Safety Code, is
1-59 amended to read as follows:
1-60 (a) The superintendent of a residential care facility to
1-61 which a client has been admitted for court-ordered care and
1-62 treatment may have a client who is absent without authority taken
1-63 into custody, detained, and returned to the facility by issuing a
1-64 certificate with a law enforcement agency of the municipality or
2-1 county in which the facility is located or by obtaining a court
2-2 order issued by [filing an affidavit with] a magistrate in the
2-3 manner prescribed by Section 574.083.
2-4 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
2-5 * * * * *