86R29995 EAS-D
By: Zaffirini, et al. S.B. No. 1293
(Hinojosa)
Substitute the following for S.B. No. 1293: No.
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 in a county to which this section applies, with the
permission of the commissioners court of that county, 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. (a)
Subject to Subsection (b), 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.
(b) If the county employs a public defender other than a
mental health public defender that is assigned to a court with
primary responsibility for mental illness proceedings for that
county, the court must appoint that public defender to represent a
proposed patient in a proceeding under Chapter 574 unless the court
enters in the record a statement of the reason the court is unable
to appoint that public defender.
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.