By: Duncan S.B. No. 1475

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the development and use of a jail-based restoration of competency pilot program.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Article 46B, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended by adding Article 46B.090 to read as follows:

Art. 46B.090. JAIL-BASED RESTORATION OF COMPETENCY PILOT PROGRAM. (a) The department shall develop a pilot program for jail-based restoration of competency pursuant to a commitment order issued under Article 46B.073(e), Code of Criminal Procedure. The department shall develop the pilot program:

(1) in not more than two counties for which the department determines that the operation of a jail-based restoration of competency program will prove to be feasible, efficient, and cost-effective; and

(2) in coordination with the affected counties.

(b) The department shall contract with a private provider of jail-based restoration of competency services to provide those services under the pilot program.

(c) The executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission shall propose and adopt rules necessary to establish the pilot program. In adopting rules under this section, the executive commissioner shall specify the types of information the department must collect during the operation of the pilot program for use in evaluating the outcome of the pilot program.

(d) To contract with the department under this article, a private provider of jail-based restoration of competency services must demonstrate to the department that:

(1) the provider has previously provided jail-based competency restoration services for at least two years;

(2) the provider's jail-based competency restoration program uses a multi-disciplinary treatment team that provides clinical treatment that is:

(A) directed toward the specific objective of the defendant attaining competency to stand trial; and

(B) similar to the clinical treatment provided at a department facility;

(3) the provider's jail-based competency restoration program has at least one psychiatrist, assigns staff members to defendants participating in the program at an average ratio no lower than 3.7 to 1, and provides weekly treatment hours commensurate to the treatment hours provided in a state hospital for a competency restoration program;

(4) the provider is certified by a nationwide nonprofit organization that accredits health care organizations and programs, such as the Joint Commission on Healthcare Staffing Services; and

(5) the provider has a demonstrated history of successful jail-based restoration of competency outcomes.

(e) A contract between the department and the provider entered under this article must require the provider to collect and submit to the department the information specified by rules adopted under Subsection (c).

(f) The designated provider shall enter a contract with the county in which the applicable jail included in the program is located. The contract must require the county to:

(1) ensure the safety of defendants who are participating in the jail-based restoration of competency program;

(2) designate a separate treatment space for the provider to conduct individual and group sessions with the defendants participating in the jail-based restoration of competency program;

(3) provide the same basic care to defendants who are participating in the jail-based restoration of competency program as is provided to other inmates of a jail; and

(4) supply psychoactive medications to the mental health service provider for purposes of administering court-ordered medication to defendants in accordance with Article 46B.086 and Section 574.106, Health and Safety Code.

(g) If, in the opinion of the psychiatrist for the provider, a defendant's competency to stand trial has been successfully restored at any time during the defendant's participation in the jail-based restoration of competency treatment program:

(1) the psychiatrist for the provider shall promptly issue and send to the court a report demonstrating that fact; and

(2) the court shall consider that report as the report of an expert stating an opinion that the defendant has been restored to competency for purposes of Articles 46B.0755(a) and (b).

(h) If a defendant's competency to stand trial has in the opinion of the psychiatrist for the provider been determined to be unlikely to be restored in the foreseeable future at any time during the defendant's participation in the jail-based restoration of competency treatment program:

(1) the psychiatrist for the provider shall promptly issue and send to the court a report demonstrating that fact; and

(2) the court shall proceed under Subchapter E or F or release the defendant on bail as permitted under Chapter 17.

(i) The department shall design the jail-based restoration of competency pilot program in such a manner that if, with respect to a defendant charged with a felony, the defendant's competency to stand trial has not, in the opinion of the psychiatrist for the provider, been successfully restored by the end of 60th day after the date the defendant begins to participate in the jail-based pilot program and the defendant is to be transferred next to a hospital or facility described by Article 46B.073(c) or (d), Code of Criminal Procedure, for further restoration of competency efforts, the defendant will without unnecessary delay, in accordance with the previously issued order of the court, and as applicable:

(1) enter the first available hospital or facility described by Article 46B.073(c) for the remainder of the period prescribed by Article 46B.073(b); or

(2) enter the first available appropriate facility described by Article 46B.073(d) for the remainder of the period prescribed by Article 46B.073(b).

(j) If the defendant is charged only with an offense punishable as a misdemeanor, the effort to restore the defendant's competency to stand trial under this article and Article 46B.073(e)may not continue after the end of the 60th day the defendant begins to participate in the jail-based pilot program.

(k) Not later than December 1, 2016, the commissioner of the department shall submit a report concerning the pilot program to the presiding officers of the standing committees of the senate and house of representatives having primary jurisdiction over health and human services issues and over criminal justice issues. The report must include the information collected by the department during the pilot program and the commissioner's evaluation of the outcome of the program as of the date the report is submitted.

(l) This section expires September 1, 2017.

SECTION 2. Article 46B.073, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:

(e) Notwithstanding Subsections (b), (c), and (d) of this article, the court in a county participating in the pilot jail-based restoration of competency program developed under Article 46B.090, Code of Criminal Procedure, shall order the defendant to participate in the jail-based restoration of competency program in accordance with that article with the possibility of further commitment to a hospital or facility described by Subsection (c) or (d), as applicable, if competency to stand trial is not successfully restored under the jail-based program. This subsection expires September 1, 2017.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.