§335-1  Enactment of compact.  TheInterstate Compact on Mental Health is hereby enacted into law and entered intoby the State of Hawaii with all other states legally joining therein in theform as follows:

The contracting states solemnly agree that:

 

Article I

 

The party states find that the proper andexpeditious treatment of the mentally ill and mentally deficient can befacilitated by cooperative action, to the benefit of the patients, theirfamilies, and society as a whole.  Further, the party states find that thenecessity of and desirability for furnishing such care and treatment bears noprimary relation to the residence or citizenship of the patient but that, onthe contrary, the controlling factors of community safety and humanitarianismrequire that facilities and services be made available for all in need ofthem.  Consequently, it is the purpose of this compact and of the party statesto provide the necessary legal basis for the institutionalization or otherappropriate care and treatment of the mentally ill and mentally deficient undera system that recognizes the paramount importance of patient welfare and toestablish the responsibilities of the party states in terms of such welfare.

 

Article II

 

As used in this compact:

(a)  “Sending state” shall mean a party statefrom which a patient is transported pursuant to the provisions of the compactor from which it is contemplated that a patient may be so sent.

(b)  “Receiving state” shall mean a party stateto which a patient is transported pursuant to the provisions of the compact orto which it is contemplated that a patient may be so sent.

(c)  “Institution” shall mean any hospital orother facility maintained by a party state or political subdivision thereof forthe care and treatment of mental illness or mental deficiency.

(d)  “Patient” shall mean any person subject toor eligible as determined by the laws of the sending state, forinstitutionalization or other care, treatment, or supervision pursuant to theprovisions of this compact.

(e)  “After-care” shall mean care, treatmentand services provided a patient, as defined herein, on convalescent status orconditional release.

(f)  “Mental illness” shall mean mental diseaseto such extent that a person so afflicted requires care and treatment for theperson’s own welfare, or the welfare of others, or of the community.

(g)  “Mental deficiency” shall mean mentaldeficiency as defined by appropriate clinical authorities to such extent that aperson so afflicted is incapable of managing oneself and the person’s affairs,but shall not include mental illness as defined herein.

(h)  “State” shall mean any state, territory orpossession of the United States, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealthof Puerto Rico.

 

Article III

 

(a)  Whenever a person physically present inany party state shall be in need of institutionalization by reason of mentalillness or mental deficiency, the person shall be eligible for care andtreatment in an institution in that state irrespective of the person’s residence,settlement or citizenship qualifications.

(b)  The provisions of paragraph (a) of thisarticle to the contrary notwithstanding, any patient may be transferred to aninstitution in another state whenever there are factors based upon clinical determinationsindicating that the care and treatment of said patient would be facilitated orimproved thereby.  Any such institutionalization may be for the entire periodof care and treatment or for any portion or portions thereof.  The factorsreferred to in this paragraph shall include the patient’s full record with dueregard for the location of the patient’s family, character of the illness andprobable duration thereof, and such other factors as shall be consideredappropriate.

(c)  No state shall be obliged to receive anypatient pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (b) of this article unless thesending state has given advance notice of its intention to send the patient;furnished all available medical and other pertinent records concerning the patient;given the qualified medical or other appropriate clinical authorities of thereceiving state an opportunity to examine the patient if said authorities sowish; and unless the receiving state shall agree to accept the patient.

(d)  In the event that the laws of thereceiving state establish a system of priorities for the admission of patients,an interstate patient under this compact shall receive the same priority as alocal patient and shall be taken in the same order and at the same time thatthe local patient would be taken if the interstate patient were a localpatient.

(e)  Pursuant to this compact, thedetermination as to the suitable place of institutionalization for a patientmay be reviewed at any time and such further transfer of the patient may bemade as seems likely to be in the best interest of the patient.

 

Article IV

 

(a)  Whenever, pursuant to the laws of thestate in which a patient is physically present, it shall be determined that thepatient should receive after-care or supervision, such care or supervision maybe provided in a receiving state.  If the medical or other appropriate clinicalauthorities having responsibility for the care and treatment of the patient inthe sending state shall have reason to believe that after-care in another statewould be in the best interest of the patient and would not jeopardize thepublic safety, they shall request the appropriate authorities in the receivingstate to investigate the desirability of affording the patient such after-carein said receiving state, and such investigation shall be made with allreasonable speed.  The request for investigation shall be accompanied bycomplete information concerning the patient’s intended place of residence andthe identity of the person in whose charge it is proposed to place the patient,the complete medical history of the patient, and such other documents as may bepertinent.

(b)  If the medical or other appropriateclinical authorities having responsibility for the care and treatment of thepatient in the sending state and the appropriate authorities in the receivingstate find that the best interest of the patient would be served thereby, andif the public safety would not be jeopardized thereby, the patient may receiveafter-care or supervision in the receiving state.

(c)  In supervising, treating, or caring for apatient on after-care pursuant to the terms of this article, a receiving stateshall employ the same standards of visitation, examination, care, and treatmentthat it employs for similar local patients.

 

Article V

 

Whenever a dangerous or potentially dangerouspatient escapes from an institution in any party state, that state shallpromptly notify all appropriate authorities within and without the jurisdictionof the escape in a manner reasonably calculated to facilitate the speedyapprehension of the escapee.  Immediately upon the apprehension andidentification of any such dangerous or potentially dangerous patient, thepatient shall be detained in the state where found pending disposition inaccordance with law.

 

Article VI

 

The duly accredited officers of any state partyto this compact, upon the establishment of their authority and the identity ofthe patient, shall be permitted to transport any patient being moved pursuantto this compact through any and all states party to this compact, withoutinterference.

 

Article VII

 

(a)  No person shall be deemed a patient ofmore than one institution at any given time.  Completion of transfer of anypatient to an institution in a receiving state shall have the effect of makingthe person a patient of the institution in the receiving state.

(b)  The sending state shall pay all costs ofand incidental to the transportation of any patient pursuant to this compact,but any two or more party states may, by making a specific agreement for thatpurpose, arrange for a different allocation of costs as among themselves.

(c)  No provision of this compact shall beconstrued to alter or affect any internal relationships among the departments,agencies and officers of and in the government of a party state, or between aparty state and its subdivisions, as to the payment of costs, orresponsibilities therefor.

(d)  Nothing in this compact shall be construedto prevent any party state or subdivision thereof from asserting any rightagainst any person, agency or other entity in regard to costs for which suchparty state or subdivision thereof may be responsible pursuant to any provisionof this compact.

(e)  Nothing in this compact shall be construedto invalidate any reciprocal agreement between a party state and a non-partystate relating to institutionalization, care or treatment of the mentally illor mentally deficient, or any statutory authority pursuant to which suchagreements may be made.

 

Article VIII

 

(a)  Nothing in this compact shall be construedto abridge, diminish, or in any way impair the rights, duties, andresponsibilities of any patient’s guardian on the guardian’s own behalf or inrespect of any patient for whom the guardian may serve, except that where thetransfer of any patient to another jurisdiction makes advisable the appointmentof a supplemental or substitute guardian, any court of competent jurisdictionin the receiving state may make such supplemental or substitute appointment andthe court which appointed the previous guardian shall upon being duly advisedof the new appointment, and upon the satisfactory completion of such accountingand other acts as such court may by law require, relieve the previous guardianof power and responsibility to whatever extent shall be appropriate in thecircumstances; provided, however, that in the case of any patient havingsettlement in the sending state, the court of competent jurisdiction in thesending state shall have the sole discretion to relieve a guardian appointed byit or continue the guardian’s power and responsibility, whichever it shall deemadvisable.  The court in the receiving state may, in its discretion, confirm orreappoint the person or persons previously serving as guardian in the sendingstate in lieu of making a supplemental or substitute appointment.

(b)  The term “guardian” as used in paragraph(a) of this article shall include any guardian, trustee, legal committee,conservator, or other person or agency however denominated who is charged bylaw with power to act for or responsibility for the person or property of apatient.

 

Article IX

 

(a)  No provision of this compact exceptArticle V shall apply to any person institutionalized while under sentence in apenal or correctional institution or while subject to trial on a criminalcharge, or whose institutionalization is due to the commission of an offensefor which, in the absence of mental illness or mental deficiency, said personwould be subject to incarceration in a penal or correctional institution.

(b)  To every extent possible, it shall be thepolicy of states party to this compact that no patient shall be placed ordetained in any prison, jail or lockup, but such patient shall, with allexpedition, be taken to a suitable institutional facility for mental illness ormental deficiency.

 

Article X

 

(a)  Each party state shall appoint a “compactadministrator” who, on behalf of the administrator’s state, shall act asgeneral coordinator of activities under the compact in the administrator’sstate and who shall receive copies of all reports, correspondence, and otherdocuments relating to any patient processed under the compact by theadministrator’s state either in the capacity of sending or receiving state. The compact administrator or the administrator’s duly designated representativeshall be the official with whom other party states shall deal in any matterrelating to the compact or any patient processed thereunder.

(b)  The compact administrators of therespective party states shall have power to promulgate reasonable rules andregulations to carry out more effectively the terms and provisions of thiscompact.

 

Article XI

 

The duly constituted administrative authoritiesof any two or more party states may enter into supplementary agreements for theprovision of any service or facility or for the maintenance of any institutionon a joint or cooperative basis whenever the states concerned shall find thatsuch agreements will improve services, facilities, or institutional care andtreatment in the fields of mental illness or mental deficiency.  No suchsupplementary agreement shall be construed so as to relieve any party state ofany obligation which it otherwise would have under other provisions of thiscompact.

 

Article XII

 

This compact shall enter into full force andeffect as to any state when enacted by it into law and such state shallthereafter be a party thereto with any and all states legally joining therein.

 

Article XIII

 

(a)  A state party to this compact may withdrawtherefrom by enacting a statute repealing the same.  Such withdrawal shall takeeffect one year after notice thereof has been communicated officially and inwriting to the governors and compact administrators of all other party states. However, the withdrawal of any state shall not change the status of any patientwho has been sent to said state or sent out of said state pursuant to theprovisions of the compact.

(b)  Withdrawal from any agreement permitted byArticle VII(b) as to costs or from any supplementary agreement made pursuant toArticle XI shall be in accordance with the terms of such agreement.

 

Article XIV

 

This compact shall be liberally construed so asto effectuate the purposes thereof.  The provisions of this compact shall beseverable and if any phrase, clause, sentence or provision of this compact isdeclared to be contrary to the constitution of any party state or of the UnitedStates or the applicability thereof to any government, agency, person, orcircumstance is held invalid, the validity of the remainder of this compact andthe applicability thereof to any government, agency, person or circumstanceshall not be affected thereby.  If this compact shall be held contrary to theconstitution of any state party thereto, the compact shall remain in full forceand effect as to the remaining states and in full force and effect as to thestate affected as to all severable matters. [L 1967, c 114, §1; HRS §335-1; gench 1993]