By: Zaffirini  S.B. No. 1293
         (In the Senate - Filed February 28, 2019; March 7, 2019,
  read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
  April 17, 2019, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
  Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas  9, Nays 0; April 17, 2019,
  sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1293 By:  Zaffirini
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the authority of certain courts to employ attorneys as
  mental health public defenders and to the reimbursement of an
  attorney who represents an indigent proposed patient in certain
  mental health proceedings.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Chapter 571, Health and Safety Code, is amended
  by adding Sections 571.0168 and 571.0169 to read as follows:
         Sec. 571.0168.  MENTAL HEALTH PUBLIC DEFENDERS. (a)  This
  section applies only to a county with a population of 800,000 or
  more.
         (b)  A court with primary responsibility for mental illness
  proceedings for that county, subject to an appropriation from the
  commissioners court of the county in which the court is located, may
  employ attorneys as mental health public defenders to provide
  proposed patients with legal representation in a proceeding under
  Chapter 574.
         Sec. 571.0169.  REPRESENTATION OF PROPOSED PATIENT. The
  court shall appoint an attorney employed as a mental health public
  defender described by Section 571.0168, a public defender other
  than a mental health public defender, or a private attorney to
  represent a proposed patient in any proceeding under Chapter 574.
         SECTION 2.  Section 574.010(b), Health and Safety Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         (b)  If the court determines that the proposed patient is
  indigent, the court may authorize reimbursement to the attorney
  representing the proposed patient [ad litem] for court-approved
  expenses incurred in obtaining expert testimony and may order the
  proposed patient's county of residence to pay the expenses.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
 
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