H.B. No. 3342
AN ACT
relating to representation of and by the state and joinder of the
state in certain mental health proceedings.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 571.016, Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 571.016. REPRESENTATION OF STATE. Unless specified
otherwise, in a hearing held under this subtitle, including a
hearing held under Subchapter G, Chapter 574:
(1) the county attorney shall represent the state; or
(2) if the county has no county attorney, the district
attorney, the criminal district attorney, or a court-appointed
special prosecutor shall represent the state.
SECTION 2. Chapter 571, Health and Safety Code, is amended
by adding Section 571.0167 to read as follows:
Sec. 571.0167. HABEAS CORPUS PROCEEDINGS. (a) A petition
for a writ of habeas corpus arising from a commitment order must be
filed in the court of appeals for the county in which the order is
entered.
(b) The state shall be made a party in a habeas corpus
proceeding described in Subsection (a). The appropriate attorney
prescribed by Section 571.016 shall represent the state.
(c) In a habeas corpus proceeding in which a state inpatient
mental health facility or a physician employed by a state inpatient
mental health facility is a party as a result of enforcing a
commitment order, the appropriate attorney prescribed by Section
571.016 shall represent the facility or physician, or both the
facility and physician if both are parties, unless the attorney
determines that representation violates the Texas Disciplinary
Rules of Professional Conduct.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a hearing or proceeding that commences on or after the effective
date of this Act. A hearing or proceeding that commences before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
date the hearing or proceeding commenced, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2011.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3342 was passed by the House on May 3,
2011, by the following vote: Yeas 144, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 3342 on May 21, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 141, Nays 0,
2 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3342 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 18, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor