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.
(c) For informational purposes, the compact administrator shall
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.