By: Duncan S.B. No. 1475
(In the Senate - Filed March 7, 2013; March 18, 2013, read
first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
April 23, 2013, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; April 23, 2013,
sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1475 By: Huffman
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a jail-based restoration of competency pilot program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 46B.073, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
(e) Notwithstanding Subsections (b), (c), and (d) and
notwithstanding the contents of the applicable order of commitment,
in a county in which the department operates a jail-based
restoration of competency pilot program under Article 46B.090, a
defendant for whom an order is issued under this article committing
the defendant to a mental health facility or residential care
facility shall be provided competency restoration services at the
jail under the pilot program if the service provider at the jail
determines the defendant will immediately begin to receive
services. If the service provider at the jail determines the
defendant will not immediately begin to receive competency
restoration services, the defendant shall be transferred to the
appropriate mental health facility or residential care facility as
provided by the court order. This subsection expires September 1,
2017.
SECTION 2. Subchapter D, Chapter 46B, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended by adding Article 46B.090 to read as follows:
Art. 46B.090. JAIL-BASED RESTORATION OF COMPETENCY PILOT
PROGRAM. (a) If the legislature appropriates to the department
the funding necessary for the department to operate a jail-based
restoration of competency pilot program as described by this
article, the department shall develop and implement the pilot
program in one or two counties in this state that choose to
participate in the pilot program. In developing the pilot program,
the department shall coordinate and allow for input from each
participating county.
(b) The department shall contract with a provider of
jail-based competency restoration services to provide services
under the pilot program if the department develops a pilot program
under this article.
(c) Not later than November 1, 2013, the commissioner of the
department, in consultation with a stakeholder workgroup
established by the department as provided by Subsection (d), shall
adopt rules as necessary to implement the pilot program. In
adopting rules under this article, the commissioner shall specify
the types of information the department must collect during the
operation of the pilot program for use in evaluating the outcome of
the pilot program.
(d) The commissioner of the department shall establish a
stakeholder workgroup to participate in developing and
establishing rules for the pilot program. The stakeholder
workgroup must be composed of:
(1) one member who is a sheriff;
(2) one member who represents a local mental health
authority;
(3) one member who is a county commissioner, county
judge, or elected county officer;
(4) one member who is a district attorney or county
attorney with criminal jurisdiction;
(5) one member who is a defense attorney;
(6) one member who is a judge of a district criminal
court or county criminal court;
(7) two members who are mental health advocates; and
(8) any other member the department considers
appropriate to appoint to the stakeholder workgroup.
(e) This subsection and Subsection (d) expire not later than
the 30th day after the date rules are adopted under Subsection (c).
(f) To contract with the department under Subsection (b), a
provider of jail-based competency restoration services must
demonstrate to the department that:
(1) the provider:
(A) has previously provided jail-based
competency restoration services for one or more years; or
(B) is a local mental health authority that has
previously provided competency restoration services;
(2) the provider's jail-based competency restoration
program:
(A) uses a multidisciplinary treatment team to
provide clinical treatment that is:
(i) directed toward the specific objective
of restoring the defendant's competency to stand trial; and
(ii) similar to the clinical treatment
provided as part of a competency restoration program at an
inpatient mental health facility;
(B) employs or contracts for the services of at
least one psychiatrist;
(C) assigns staff members to defendants
participating in the program at an average ratio not lower than 3.7
to 1; and
(D) provides weekly treatment hours commensurate
to the treatment hours provided as part of a competency restoration
program at an inpatient mental health facility;
(3) the provider is certified by a nationwide
nonprofit organization that accredits health care organizations
and programs, such as the Joint Commission on Health Care Staffing
Services; and
(4) the provider has a demonstrated history of
successful jail-based restoration of competency outcomes.
(g) A contract under Subsection (b) must require the
designated provider to collect and submit to the department the
information specified by rules adopted under Subsection (c).
(h) The designated provider shall enter into a contract with
the participating county or counties. The contract must require
the participating county or counties to:
(1) ensure the safety of defendants who participate in
the jail-based restoration of competency pilot program;
(2) designate a separate space in the jail for the
provider to conduct the pilot program;
(3) provide the same basic care to the participants as
is provided to other inmates of a jail; and
(4) supply clinically appropriate psychoactive
medications to the mental health service provider for purposes of
administering court-ordered medication to the participants in
accordance with Article 46B.086 of this code and Section 574.106,
Health and Safety Code.
(i) The psychiatrist for the provider shall conduct at least
two full psychiatric evaluations of the defendant during the period
the defendant receives competency restoration services in the jail.
The psychiatrist must conduct one evaluation not later than the
21st day and one evaluation not later than the 55th day after the
date the defendant begins to participate in the pilot program. The
psychiatrist shall submit to the court a report concerning each
evaluation required under this subsection.
(j) If at any time during a defendant's participation in the
jail-based restoration of competency pilot program the
psychiatrist for the provider determines that the defendant has
attained competency to stand trial:
(1) the psychiatrist for the provider shall promptly
issue and send to the court a report demonstrating that fact; and
(2) the court shall consider that report as the report
of an expert stating an opinion that the defendant has been restored
to competency for purposes of Article 46B.0755(a) or (b).
(k) If at any time during a defendant's participation in the
jail-based restoration of competency pilot program the
psychiatrist for the provider determines that the defendant's
competency to stand trial is unlikely to be restored in the
foreseeable future:
(1) the psychiatrist for the provider shall promptly
issue and send to the court a report demonstrating that fact; and
(2) the court shall:
(A) proceed under Subchapter E or F and order the
transfer of the defendant, without unnecessary delay, to the first
available facility that is appropriate for that defendant, as
provided under Subchapter E or F, as applicable; or
(B) release the defendant on bail as permitted
under Chapter 17.
(l) If the psychiatrist for the provider determines that a
defendant ordered to participate in the pilot program has not been
restored to competency by the end of the 60th day after the date the
defendant began to participate in the pilot program:
(1) for a defendant charged with a felony, the
defendant shall be transferred, without unnecessary delay and for
the remainder of the period prescribed by Article 46B.073(b), to
the first available facility that is appropriate for that defendant
as provided by Article 46B.073(c) or (d); and
(2) for a defendant charged with a misdemeanor, the
court may:
(A) order a single extension under Article
46B.080 and the transfer of the defendant without unnecessary delay
to the appropriate mental health facility or residential care
facility as provided by Article 46B.073(d) for the remainder of the
period under the extension;
(B) proceed under Subchapter E or F;
(C) release the defendant on bail as permitted
under Chapter 17; or
(D) dismiss the charges in accordance with
Article 46B.010.
(m) Unless otherwise provided by this article, the
provisions of this chapter, including the maximum periods
prescribed by Article 46B.0095, apply to a defendant receiving
competency restoration services under the pilot program in the same
manner as those provisions apply to any other defendant who is
subject to proceedings under this chapter.
(n) If the department develops and implements a jail-based
restoration of competency pilot program under this article, not
later than December 1, 2016, the commissioner of the department
shall submit a report concerning the pilot program to the presiding
officers of the standing committees of the senate and house of
representatives having primary jurisdiction over health and human
services issues and over criminal justice issues. The report must
include the information collected by the department during the
pilot program and the commissioner's evaluation of the outcome of
the program as of the date the report is submitted.
(o) This article expires September 1, 2017.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a defendant against whom proceedings have not been initiated
under Chapter 46B, Code of Criminal Procedure, as amended by this
Act, before the effective date of this Act. The determination of
incompetency for a defendant against whom proceedings have been
initiated under Chapter 46B, Code of Criminal Procedure, before the
effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the
proceedings were initiated, and the former law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
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