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Amend SB 1182 by adding the following appropriately numbered
SECTION to the bill and renumbering subsequent SECTIONS
accordingly:
SECTION _____. Chapter 574, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subchapter I to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER I. TESTIMONY BY CLOSED-CIRCUIT VIDEO TELECONFERENCING
AT PROCEEDINGS
Sec. 574.201. APPLICATION OF SUBCHAPTER. This subchapter
applies only to a hearing or proceeding related to court-ordered
mental health services under this chapter.
Sec. 574.202. CERTAIN TESTIMONY BY CLOSED-CIRCUIT VIDEO
TELECONFERENCING PERMITTED. (a) A judge or magistrate may permit a
physician or a nonphysician mental health professional to testify
at a hearing or proceeding by closed-circuit video teleconferencing
if:
(1) closed-circuit video teleconferencing is available
to the judge or magistrate for that purpose;
(2) the proposed patient and the attorney representing
the proposed patient do not file with the court a written objection
to the use of closed-circuit video teleconferencing;
(3) the closed-circuit video teleconferencing system
provides for a simultaneous, compressed full-motion video and
interactive communication of image and sound between all persons
involved in the hearing; and
(4) on request of the proposed patient, the proposed
patient and the proposed patient's attorney can communicate
privately without being recorded or heard by the judge or
magistrate or by the attorney representing the state.
(b) The judge or magistrate must provide written notice of
the use of closed-circuit video teleconferencing to the proposed
patient, the proposed patient's attorney, and the attorney
representing the state not later than the third day before the date
of the hearing.
(c) On motion of the proposed patient or the attorney
representing the state or at the court's discretion, the court may
terminate testimony by closed-circuit video teleconferencing under
this section at any time during the testimony and require the
physician or nonphysician mental health professional to testify in
person.
(d) A recording of the testimony under Subsection (a) shall
be made and preserved with the court's record of the hearing.