CHAPTER 612. INTERSTATE COMPACT ON MENTAL HEALTH

State Codes and Statutes

Statutes > Texas > Health-and-safety-code > Title-7-mental-health-and-mental-retardation > Chapter-612-interstate-compact-on-mental-health

HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE

TITLE 7. MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL RETARDATION

SUBTITLE E. SPECIAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO MENTAL ILLNESS AND

MENTAL RETARDATION

CHAPTER 612. INTERSTATE COMPACT ON MENTAL HEALTH

Sec. 612.001. EXECUTION OF INTERSTATE COMPACT. This state

enters into a compact with all other states legally joining in

the compact in substantially the following form:

"INTERSTATE COMPACT ON MENTAL HEALTH

"The contracting states solemnly agree that:

"ARTICLE I

"The party states find that the proper and expeditious treatment

of the mentally ill and mentally deficient can be facilitated by

cooperative action, to the benefit of the patients, their

families, and society as a whole. Further, the party states find

that the necessity of and desirability for furnishing such care

and treatment bears no primary relation to the residence or

citizenship of the patient but that, on the contrary, the

controlling factors of community safety and humanitarianism

require that facilities and services be made available for all

who are in need of them. Consequently, it is the purpose of this

compact and of the party states to provide the necessary legal

basis for the institutionalization or other appropriate care and

treatment of the mentally ill and mentally deficient under a

system that recognizes the paramount importance of patient

welfare and to establish 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 state from which a

patient is transported pursuant to the provisions of the compact

or from which it is contemplated that a patient may be so sent.

"(b) 'Receiving state' shall mean a party state to which a

patient is transported pursuant to the provisions of the compact

or to which it is contemplated that a patient may be so sent.

"(c) 'Institution' shall mean any hospital or other facility

maintained by a party state or political subdivision thereof for

the care and treatment of mental illness or mental deficiency.

"(d) 'Patient' shall mean any person subject to or eligible as

determined by the laws of the sending state, for

institutionalization or other care, treatment, or supervision

pursuant to the provisions of this compact.

"(e) 'After-care' shall mean care, treatment and services

provided a patient, as defined herein, on convalescent status or

conditional release.

"(f) 'Mental illness' shall mean mental disease to such extent

that a person so afflicted requires care and treatment for his

own welfare, or the welfare of others, or of the community.

"(g) 'Mental deficiency' shall mean mental deficiency as defined

by appropriate clinical authorities to such extent that a person

so afflicted is incapable of managing himself and his affairs,

but shall not include mental illness as defined herein.

"(h) 'State' shall mean any state, territory or possession of

the United States, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth

of Puerto Rico.

"ARTICLE III

"(a) Whenever a person physically present in any party state

shall be in need of institutionalization by reason of mental

illness or mental deficiency, he shall be eligible for care and

treatment in an institution in that state irrespective of his

residence, settlement or citizenship qualifications.

"(b) The provisions of paragraph (a) of this article to the

contrary notwithstanding, any patient may be transferred to an

institution in another state whenever there are factors based

upon clinical determinations indicating that the care and

treatment of said patient would be facilitated or improved

thereby. Any such institutionalization may be for the entire

period of care and treatment or for any portion or portions

thereof. The factors referred to in this paragraph shall include

the patient's full record with due regard for the location of the

patient's family, character of the illness and probable duration

thereof, and such other factors as shall be considered

appropriate.

"(c) No state shall be obliged to receive any patient pursuant

to the provisions of paragraph (b) of this article unless the

sending 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 the receiving state an

opportunity to examine the patient if said authorities so wish;

and unless the receiving state shall agree to accept the patient.

"(d) In the event that the laws of the receiving state establish

a system of priorities for the admission of patients, an

interstate patient under this compact shall receive the same

priority as a local patient and shall be taken in the same order

and at the same time that he would be taken if he were a local

patient.

"(e) Pursuant to this compact, the determination as to the

suitable place of institutionalization for a patient may be

reviewed at any time and such further transfer of the patient may

be made as seems likely to be in the best interest of the

patient.

"ARTICLE IV

"(a) Whenever, pursuant to the laws of the state in which a

patient is physically present, it shall be determined that the

patient should receive after-care or supervision, such care or

supervision may be provided in a receiving state. If the medical

or other appropriate clinical authorities having responsibility

for the care and treatment of the patient in the sending state

shall have reason to believe that after-care in another state

would be in the best interest of the patient and would not

jeopardize the public safety, they shall request the appropriate

authorities in the receiving state to investigate the

desirability of affording the patient such after-care in said

receiving state, and such investigation shall be made with all

reasonable speed. The request for investigation shall be

accompanied by complete information concerning the patient's

intended place of residence and the 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

be pertinent.

"(b) If the medical or other appropriate clinical authorities

having responsibility for the care and treatment of the patient

in the sending state and the appropriate authorities in the

receiving state find that the best interest of the patient would

be served thereby, and if the public safety would not be

jeopardized thereby, the patient may receive after-care or

supervision in the receiving state.

"(c) In supervising, treating, or caring for a patient on

after-care pursuant to the terms of this article, a receiving

state shall employ the same standards of visitation, examination,

care, and treatment that it employs for similar local patients.

"ARTICLE V

"Whenever a dangerous or potentially dangerous patient escapes

from an institution in any party state, that state shall promptly

notify all appropriate authorities within and without the

jurisdiction of the escape in a manner reasonably calculated to

facilitate the speedy apprehension of the escapee. Immediately

upon the apprehension and identification of any such dangerous or

potentially dangerous patient, he shall be detained in the state

where found pending disposition in accordance with law.

"ARTICLE VI

"The duly accredited officers of any state party to this compact,

upon the establishment of their authority and the identity of the

patient, shall be permitted to transport any patient being moved

pursuant to this compact through any and all states party to this

compact, without interference.

"ARTICLE VII

"(a) No person shall be deemed a patient of more than one

institution at any given time. Completion of transfer of any

patient to an institution in a receiving state shall have the

effect of making the person a patient of the institution in the

receiving state.

"(b) The sending state shall pay all costs of and 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 that purpose, arrange for a different allocation of costs as

among themselves.

"(c) No provision of this compact shall be construed to alter or

affect any internal relationships among the departments, agencies

and officers of and in the government of a party state, or

between a party state and its subdivisions, as to the payment of

costs, or responsibilities therefor.

"(d) Nothing in this compact shall be construed to prevent any

party state or subdivision thereof from asserting any right

against any person, agency or other entity in regard to costs for

which such party state or subdivision thereof may be responsible

pursuant to any provision of this compact.

"(e) Nothing in this compact shall be construed to invalidate

any reciprocal agreement between a party state and a non-party

state relating to institutionalization, care or treatment of the

mentally ill or mentally deficient, or any statutory authority

pursuant to which such agreements may be made.

"ARTICLE VIII

"(a) Nothing in this compact shall be construed to abridge,

diminish, or in any way impair the rights, duties, and

responsibilities of any patient's guardian on his own behalf or

in respect of any patient for whom he may serve, except that

where the transfer of any patient to another jurisdiction makes

advisable the appointment of a supplemental or substitute

guardian, any court of competent jurisdiction in the receiving

state may make such supplemental or substitute appointment and

the court which appointed the previous guardian shall upon being

duly advised of the new appointment, and upon the satisfactory

completion of such accounting and other acts as such court may by

law require, relieve the previous guardian of power and

responsibility to whatever extent shall be appropriate in the

circumstances; provided, however, that in the case of any patient

having settlement in the sending state, the court of competent

jurisdiction in the sending state shall have the sole discretion

to relieve a guardian appointed by it or continue his power and

responsibility, whichever it shall deem advisable. The court in

the receiving state may, in its discretion, confirm or reappoint

the person or persons previously serving as guardian in the

sending state 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 by law with power to act for or responsibility for the

person or property of a patient.

"ARTICLE IX

"(a) No provision of this compact except Article V shall apply

to any person institutionalized while under sentence in a penal

or correctional institution or while subject to trial on a

criminal charge, or whose institutionalization is due to the

commission of an offense for which, in the absence of mental

illness or mental deficiency, said person would be subject to the

incarceration in a penal or correctional institution.

"(b) To every extent possible, it shall be the policy of states

party to this compact that no patient shall be placed or detained

in any prison, jail or lockup, but such patient shall, with all

expedition, be taken to a suitable institutional facility for

mental illness or mental deficiency.

"ARTICLE X

"(a) Each party state shall appoint a compact administrator who,

on behalf of his state, shall act as general coordinator of

activities under the compact in his state and who shall receive

copies of all reports, correspondence, and other documents

relating to any patient processed under the compact by his state

either in the capacity of sending or receiving state. The compact

administrator or his duly designated representative shall be the

official with whom other party states shall deal in any matter

relating to the compact or any patient processed thereunder.

"(b) The compact administrators of the respective party states

shall have power to promulgate reasonable rules and regulations

to carry out more effectively the terms and provisions of this

compact.

"ARTICLE XI

"The duly constituted administrative authorities of any two or

more party states may enter into supplementary agreements for the

provision of any service or facility or for the maintenance of

any institution on a joint or cooperative basis whenever the

states concerned shall find that such agreements will improve

services, facilities, or institutional care and treatment in the

fields of mental illness or mental deficiency. No such

supplementary agreement shall be construed so as to relieve any

party state of any obligation which it otherwise would have under

other provisions of this compact.

"ARTICLE XII

"This compact shall enter into full force and effect as to any

state when enacted by it into law and such state shall thereafter

be a party thereto with any and all states legally joining

therein.

"ARTICLE XIII

"(a) A state party to this compact may withdraw therefrom by

enacting a statute repealing the same. Such withdrawal shall take

effect one year after notice thereof has been communicated

officially and in writing to the governors and compact

administrators of all other party states. However, the withdrawal

of any state shall not change the status of any patient who has

been sent to said state or sent out of said state pursuant to the

provisions of the compact.

"(b) Withdrawal from any agreement permitted by Article VII(b)

as to costs or from any supplementary agreement made pursuant to

Article XI shall be in accordance with the terms of such

agreement.

"ARTICLE XIV

"This compact shall be liberally construed so as to effectuate

the purposes thereof. The provisions of this compact shall be

severable and if any phrase, clause, sentence or provision of

this compact is declared to be contrary to the constitution of

any party state or of the United States or the applicability

thereof to any government, agency, person or circumstance is held

invalid, the validity of the remainder of this compact and the

applicability thereof to any government, agency, person or

circumstance shall not be affected thereby. If this compact shall

be held contrary to the constitution of any state party thereto,

the compact shall remain in full force and effect as to the

remaining states and in full force and effect as to the state

affected as to all severable matters."

Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,

1991.

Sec. 612.002. COMPACT ADMINISTRATOR. (a) Under the compact,

the governor shall appoint the commissioner of mental health and

mental retardation as the compact administrator.

(b) The compact administrator may appoint a designee to perform

the administrator's duties.

Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,

1991.

Sec. 612.004. GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OF ADMINISTRATOR. (a)

The compact administrator, acting jointly with like officers of

other states that are parties to the compact, may adopt rules to

carry out the compact more effectively.

(b) The compact administrator shall cooperate with all

departments, agencies, and officers of this state and its

subdivisions in facilitating the proper administration of the

compact or of a supplementary agreement entered into by this

state under the compact.

file with the secretary of state notice of compact meetings for

publication in the Texas Register.

Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,

1991.

Sec. 612.005. SUPPLEMENTARY AGREEMENTS. (a) The compact

administrator may enter into supplementary agreements with

appropriate officials of other states under Articles VII and XI

of the compact.

(b) If a supplementary agreement requires or contemplates the

use of an institution or facility of this state or requires or

contemplates the provision of a service by this state, the

supplementary agreement does not take effect until approved by

the head of the department or agency:

(1) under whose jurisdiction the institution or facility is

operated; or

(2) that will perform the service.

Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,

1991.

Sec. 612.006. FINANCIAL AGREEMENTS. The compact administrator

may make or arrange for the payments necessary to discharge the

financial obligations imposed on this state by the compact or by

a supplementary agreement entered into under the compact, subject

to the approval of the comptroller.

Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,

1991.

Sec. 612.007. REQUIREMENTS AFFECTING TRANSFERS OF CERTAIN

PATIENTS. (a) The compact administrator shall consult with the

immediate family of any person proposed to be transferred.

(b) If a person is proposed to be transferred from an

institution in this state to an institution in another state that

is a party to the compact, the compact administrator may not take

final action without the approval of the district court of the

district in which the person resides.

Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,

1991.

State Codes and Statutes

State Codes and Statutes

State Codes and Statutes

State Codes and Statutes

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