By: Raymond (Senate Sponsor - Nelson) H.B. No. 144
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 2, 2013;
April 9, 2013, read first time and referred to Committee on
Criminal Justice; May 9, 2013, reported favorably by the following
vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 9, 2013, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a mental examination of a child subject to the juvenile
justice system.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 51.20(a), (b), (c), and (d), Family
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) At any stage of the proceedings under this title,
including when a child is initially detained in a pre-adjudication
secure detention facility or a post-adjudication secure
correctional facility, the juvenile court may, at its discretion or
at the request of the child's parent or guardian, order a child who
is referred to the juvenile court or who is alleged by a petition or
found to have engaged in delinquent conduct or conduct indicating a
need for supervision to be examined by a disinterested expert,
including a physician, psychiatrist, or psychologist, qualified by
education and clinical training in mental health or mental
retardation and experienced in forensic evaluation, to determine
whether the child has a mental illness as defined by Section
571.003, Health and Safety Code, [or] is a person with mental
retardation as defined by Section 591.003, Health and Safety Code,
or suffers from chemical dependency as defined by Section 464.001,
Health and Safety Code. If the examination is to include a
determination of the child's fitness to proceed, an expert may be
appointed to conduct the examination only if the expert is
qualified under Subchapter B, Chapter 46B, Code of Criminal
Procedure, to examine a defendant in a criminal case, and the
examination and the report resulting from an examination under this
subsection must comply with the requirements under Subchapter B,
Chapter 46B, Code of Criminal Procedure, for the examination and
resulting report of a defendant in a criminal case.
(b) If, after conducting an examination of a child ordered
under Subsection (a) and reviewing any other relevant information,
there is reason to believe that the child has a mental illness or
mental retardation or suffers from chemical dependency, the
probation department shall refer the child to the local mental
health or mental retardation authority or to another appropriate
and legally authorized agency or provider for evaluation and
services, unless the prosecuting attorney has filed a petition
under Section 53.04.
(c) If, while a child is under deferred prosecution
supervision or court-ordered probation, a qualified professional
determines that the child has a mental illness or mental
retardation or suffers from chemical dependency and the child is
not currently receiving treatment services for the mental illness,
[or] mental retardation, or chemical dependency, the probation
department shall refer the child to the local mental health or
mental retardation authority or to another appropriate and legally
authorized agency or provider for evaluation and services.
(d) A probation department shall report each referral of a
child to a local mental health or mental retardation authority or
another agency or provider made under Subsection (b) or (c) to the
Texas Juvenile Justice Department [Texas Juvenile Probation
Commission] in a format specified by the department [commission].
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
* * * * *