By: Lalani H.B. No. 3986
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of a peace officer to apprehend a person
for emergency detention and the authority of certain facilities and
physicians to temporarily detain a person with mental illness.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Subchapter A, Chapter 573, Health
and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER A. APPREHENSION, [BY PEACE OFFICER OR] TRANSPORTATION,
OR DETENTION WITHOUT JUDGE'S OR MAGISTRATE'S ORDER [FOR EMERGENCY
DETENTION BY GUARDIAN]
SECTION 2. Section 573.001, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subsection (i) to read as follows:
(i) A peace officer may take a person who has been admitted
to a facility into custody under this section. For purposes of this
subsection, "facility" has the meaning assigned by Section 573.005.
SECTION 3. Subchapter A, Chapter 573, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 573.005 to read as follows:
Sec. 573.005. TEMPORARY DETENTION IN CERTAIN FACILITIES.
(a) In this section, "facility" means:
(1) an inpatient mental health facility other than a
community center, a facility operated by or under contract with a
community center, an entity that the department designates to
provide mental health services, a local mental health authority, or
a facility operated by or under contract with a local mental health
authority, unless the facility is licensed under Chapter 577;
(2) a hospital, or the emergency department of a
hospital, licensed under Chapter 241; and
(3) a freestanding emergency medical care facility
licensed under Chapter 254.
(b) The governing body of a facility may adopt and implement
a written policy that provides for the facility or a physician at
the facility to detain a person who voluntarily requested treatment
from the facility or who lacks the capacity to consent to treatment,
as provided by this section, if:
(1) the person expresses a desire to leave the
facility or attempts to leave the facility before the examination
or treatment is completed; and
(2) a physician at the facility:
(A) has reason to believe and does believe that:
(i) the person has a mental illness; and
(ii) because of that mental illness there
is a substantial risk of serious harm to the person or to others
unless the person is immediately restrained; and
(B) believes that there is not sufficient time to
file an application for emergency detention or for an order of
protective custody.
(c) A policy adopted and implemented by a facility under
this section may not allow the facility or a physician at the
facility to detain a person who has been transported to the facility
for emergency detention under this chapter.
(d) A policy adopted and implemented by a facility under
this section must require:
(1) the facility staff or the physician who intends to
detain the person under the policy to notify the person of that
intention;
(2) a physician to document a decision by the facility
or the physician to detain a person under the policy and to place a
notice of detention in the person's medical record that contains
the same information as required in a peace officer's notification
of detention under Section 573.002; and
(3) the period of a person's detention under the policy
to be less than four hours following the time the person first
expressed a desire to leave, or attempted to leave, the facility,
and the facility or physician to release the person not later than
the end of the four-hour period unless the facility staff or
physician arranges for a peace officer to take the person into
custody under Section 573.001 or an order of protective custody is
issued.
(e) Detention of a person under a policy adopted and
implemented by a facility under this section is not considered
involuntary psychiatric hospitalization for purposes of Section
411.172(e), Government Code.
(f) A physician, person, or facility that detains or does
not detain a person under a policy adopted and implemented by a
facility under this section and that acts in good faith and without
malice is not civilly or criminally liable for that action.
(g) A facility is not civilly or criminally liable for its
governing body's decision to adopt or not to adopt a policy under
this section.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.