H.B. No. 1829
AN ACT
relating to an application for emergency detention and to the
transfer to a mental hospital of a person admitted for emergency
detention.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 573.012, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subsection (h) and adding Subsection (h-1) to
read as follows:
(h) A judge or magistrate may permit an applicant who is a
physician to present an application by:
(1) e-mail with the application attached as a secure
document in a portable document format (PDF); or
(2) secure electronic means, including:
(A) satellite transmission;
(B) [,] closed-circuit television
transmission;[,] or
(C) any other method of two-way electronic
communication that:
(i) [(1)] is secure;
(ii) [(2)] is available to the judge or
magistrate; and
(iii) [(3)] provides for a simultaneous,
compressed full-motion video and interactive communication of
image and sound between the judge or magistrate and the applicant.
(h-1) After the presentation of an application under
Subsection (h), the judge or magistrate may transmit a warrant to
the applicant:
(1) electronically, if a digital signature, as defined
by Article 2.26, Code of Criminal Procedure, is transmitted with
the document; or
(2) by e-mail with the warrant attached as a secure
document in a portable document format (PDF), if the identifiable
legal signature of the judge or magistrate is transmitted with the
document.
SECTION 2. Section 573.022, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
(c) A facility that has admitted a person for emergency
detention under Subsection (a) or to which a person has been
transported under Subsection (b) may transfer the person to an
appropriate mental hospital with the written consent of the
hospital administrator.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1829 was passed by the House on April
14, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 142, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 1829 on May 16, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 141, Nays 0,
1 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1829 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 10, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0
.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor