By: Zaffirini, Lucio S.B. No. 1293
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of certain courts to employ attorneys as
mental health public defenders and to the reimbursement of an
attorney who represents an indigent proposed patient in certain
mental health proceedings.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 571, Health and Safety Code, is amended
by adding Sections 571.0168 and 571.0169 to read as follows:
Sec. 571.0168. MENTAL HEALTH PUBLIC DEFENDERS. (a) This
section applies only to a county with a population of 800,000 or
more.
(b) A court with primary responsibility for mental illness
proceedings for that county, subject to an appropriation from the
commissioners court of the county in which the court is located, may
employ attorneys as mental health public defenders to provide
proposed patients with legal representation in a proceeding under
Chapter 574.
Sec. 571.0169. REPRESENTATION OF PROPOSED PATIENT. The
court shall appoint an attorney employed as a mental health public
defender described by Section 571.0168, a public defender other
than a mental health public defender, or a private attorney to
represent a proposed patient in any proceeding under Chapter 574.
SECTION 2. Section 574.010(b), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) If the court determines that the proposed patient is
indigent, the court may authorize reimbursement to the attorney
representing the proposed patient [ad litem] for court-approved
expenses incurred in obtaining expert testimony and may order the
proposed patient's county of residence to pay the expenses.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.