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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
1st Session of the 59th Legislature (2023)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
HOUSE BILL NO. 2746 By: Miller
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
An Act relating to guardianships; creating the
Courtney Smith Act; defining terms; allowing for the
transportation of a ward to an inpatient treatment
facility; requiring certain conditions; creating
restriction; providing for codification; and
providing an effective date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 30 of Title 30, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Courtney Smith
Act".
SECTION 2. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 31 of Title 30, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. As used in this act:
1. "General guardianship" means a relationship where a person
has been appointed by a court to serv e as the guardian of an
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incapacitated person to ensure that the essential requirements for
the health and safety of the person are met, to manage the estate or
financial resources of the person, or both;
2. "Gravely disabled" means a condition in which a person,
because of a mental illness, is unable to provide for his or her
basic personal needs for food, clothing, or shelter;
3. "Inpatient mental health treatment" means a treatment
service offered or provided for a continuous peri od of more than
twenty-four (24) hours in residence after admission to a mental
health or substance abuse treatment facility for the purpose of
observation, evaluation, or treatment; and
4. "Ward" means a person over whom a guardian is appointed and
a person over whose property a guardian or conservator is appointed.
B. A guardian who has general guardianship and who has obtained
an order by a court for inpatient mental health treatment for the
ward may apply for an order requiring either municipal or county
officials to retrieve, only if in an unsheltered environment, and
deliver the gravely disabled ward to an inpatient treatment
facility, pursuant to Section 1 -110 of Title 43A of the Oklahoma
Statutes, when one of the following criteria are met:
1. The ward is unable to utilize the means available to provide
for his or her basic personal needs regarding food, clothing, or
shelter. Considerations that shall be made when making this
evaluation shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
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a. whether lab examinations reveal signs of malnutrition
or dehydration,
b. whether there is observed, do cumented behavior showing
an inability to consume adequate amounts of food or
water due to a mental illness,
c. whether there is a history of public nudity or
inadvertent exhibiti onism which has been observed and
documented and is due to a men tal illness,
d. the existence of physical evidence of exposure to the
environment due to mental illness symptoms which
prevent the ward from wearing adequate c lothing,
e. whether there is observed behavior and symptoms of a
mental illness which prevent the ward from utilizing
or obtaining adequate shelter ,
f. the existence of a repeated and recent history of
failure to maintain adequate shelter in the community
due to behaviors and symptoms of a mental illness, or
g. evidence of a failure to maintain a shelter in a
manner that is safe to live in, due to symptoms of a
mental illness;
2. The ward is unable to voluntarily request and receive
assistance for his or her basic personal needs; or
3. The ward is unable to survive safely without involuntary
detention and does not have the help of family members, friends, or
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others to provide the ward's basic personal needs regarding food,
clothing, or shelter.
C. No person shall be presumed to be incompetent because the
person has been evaluated or treated f or a mental illness,
regardless of whether such evaluation or treatment was voluntarily
or involuntarily received.
SECTION 3. This act shall become effective November 1, 2023.
59-1-7939 GRS 03/02/23