Bill Text: MS HB415 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Civil commitment; respondent in proceeding not to be placed in jail except for protective custody while awaiting transportation.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2024-03-05 - Died In Committee [HB415 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2024-HB415-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2024 Regular Session
To: Judiciary A
By: Representative Felsher
House Bill 415
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 41-21-67, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT A RESPONDENT IN A CIVIL COMMITMENT PROCEEDING SHALL NOT BE PLACED IN A JAIL OR OTHER CORRECTIONAL FACILITY EXCEPT FOR PROTECTIVE CUSTODY PURPOSES AND ONLY WHILE AWAITING TRANSPORTATION TO A LICENSED MEDICAL FACILITY, CRISIS STABILIZATION UNIT, EVALUATION FACILITY OR TREATMENT FACILITY; TO PROVIDE THAT IN NO CASE SHALL THE RESPONDENT BE HELD IN A JAIL OR OTHER CORRECTIONAL FACILITY FOR MORE THAN 72 HOURS; TO PROVIDE THAT THE BOARDS OF SUPERVISORS AND SHERIFFS OF THE COUNTIES SHALL MAKE EVERY EFFORT NECESSARY TO PROVIDE CARE AND MAINTENANCE OF THE RESPONDENT AND EXPLORE AND EXHAUST ALL OTHER POTENTIAL FACILITIES TO PREVENT THE DETENTION OF THE RESPONDENT IN JAIL; TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 19-5-43, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, FOR THE PURPOSE OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 41-21-67, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-21-67. (1) Whenever the
affidavit provided for in Section 41-21-65 is filed with the chancery
clerk, the clerk, upon direction of the chancellor of the court, shall issue a
writ directed to the sheriff of the proper county to take into custody the person
alleged to be in need of treatment and to take the person for pre-evaluation
screening and treatment by the appropriate community mental health center
established under Section 41-19-31. The community mental health center will be
designated as the first point of entry for pre-evaluation screening and
treatment. If the community mental health center is unavailable, any reputable
licensed physician, psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant, as
allowed in the discretion of the court, may conduct the pre-evaluation
screening and examination as set forth in Section 41-21-69. The order may
provide where the person shall be held before being taken for pre-evaluation
screening and treatment. However, when the affidavit fails to set forth factual
allegations and witnesses sufficient to support the need for treatment, the
chancellor shall refuse to direct issuance of the writ. Reapplication may be
made to the chancellor. If a pauper's affidavit is filed by an affiant who is
a guardian or conservator of a person in need of treatment, the court shall
determine if either the affiant or the person in need of treatment is a pauper
and if * * *
the affiant or the person in need of treatment is determined to be a pauper,
the county of the residence of the respondent shall bear the costs of
commitment, unless funds for those purposes are made available by the state.
In any county in which a Crisis Intervention Team has been established under the provisions of Sections 41-21-131 through 41-21-143, the clerk, upon the direction of the chancellor, may require that the person be referred to the Crisis Intervention Team for appropriate psychiatric or other medical services before the issuance of the writ.
(2) Upon issuance of the writ, the chancellor shall immediately appoint and summon two (2) reputable, licensed physicians or one (1) reputable, licensed physician and either one (1) psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant to conduct a physical and mental examination of the person at a place to be designated by the clerk or chancellor and to report their findings to the clerk or chancellor. However, any nurse practitioner or physician assistant conducting the examination shall be independent from, and not under the supervision of, the other physician conducting the examination. A nurse practitioner or psychiatric nurse practitioner conducting an examination under this chapter must be functioning within a collaborative or consultative relationship with a physician as required under Section 73-15-20(3). In all counties in which there is a county health officer, the county health officer, if available, may be one (1) of the physicians so appointed. If a licensed physician is not available to conduct the physical and mental examination within forty-eight (48) hours of the issuance of the writ, the court, in its discretion and upon good cause shown, may permit the examination to be conducted by the following: (a) two (2) nurse practitioners, one (1) of whom must be a psychiatric nurse practitioner; or (b) one (1) psychiatric nurse practitioner and one (1) psychologist or physician assistant. Neither of the physicians nor the psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant selected shall be related to that person in any way, nor have any direct or indirect interest in the estate of that person nor shall any full-time staff of residential treatment facilities operated directly by the State Department of Mental Health serve as examiner.
(3) The clerk shall ascertain whether the respondent is represented by an attorney, and if it is determined that the respondent does not have an attorney, the clerk shall immediately notify the chancellor of that fact. If the chancellor determines that the respondent for any reason does not have the services of an attorney, the chancellor shall immediately appoint an attorney for the respondent at the time the examiners are appointed.
(4) If the chancellor
determines that there is probable cause to believe that the respondent is
mentally ill and that there is no reasonable alternative to detention, the
chancellor may order that the respondent be retained as an emergency patient at
any licensed medical facility for evaluation by a physician, nurse practitioner
or physician assistant and that a peace officer transport the respondent to the
specified facility. If the community mental health center serving the county
has partnered with Crisis Intervention Teams under the provisions of Sections
41-21-131 through 41-21-143, the order may specify that the licensed medical
facility be a designated single point of entry within the county or within an
adjacent county served by the community mental health center. If the person
evaluating the respondent finds that the respondent is mentally ill and in need
of treatment, the chancellor may order that the respondent be retained at the
licensed medical facility or any other available suitable location as the court
may so designate pending an admission hearing. If necessary, the chancellor
may order a peace officer or other person to transport the respondent to that
facility or suitable location. Any respondent so retained may be given such
treatment as is indicated by standard medical practice. However, the
respondent shall not be held in a hospital operated directly by the State Department
of Mental Health, and shall not be * * * placed in a jail or other correctional facility
except for protective custody purposes and only while awaiting transportation to
a licensed medical facility, crisis stabilization unit, evaluation facility or treatment
facility; however, in no case shall the respondent be held in a jail or other correctional
facility for more than seventy-two (72) hours. Protective custody under
this subsection shall not include placement of a minor in a jail or secure facility.
As required by Section 19-5-43, the boards of supervisors and sheriffs of the counties
shall make every effort necessary to provide care and maintenance of the respondent
and explore and exhaust all other potential facilities to prevent the detention
of the respondent in jail.
(5) (a) Whenever a licensed psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant who is certified to complete examinations for the purpose of commitment or a licensed physician has reason to believe that a person poses an immediate substantial likelihood of physical harm to himself or others or is gravely disabled and unable to care for himself by virtue of mental illness, as defined in Section 41-21-61(e), then the physician, psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant may hold the person or may admit the person to and treat the person in a licensed medical facility, without a civil order or warrant for a period not to exceed seventy-two (72) hours. However, if the seventy-two-hour period begins or ends when the chancery clerk's office is closed, or within three (3) hours of closing, and the chancery clerk's office will be continuously closed for a time that exceeds seventy-two (72) hours, then the seventy-two-hour period is extended until the end of the next business day that the chancery clerk's office is open. The person may be held and treated as an emergency patient at any licensed medical facility, available regional mental health facility, or crisis intervention center. The physician or psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant who holds the person shall certify in writing the reasons for the need for holding.
If a person is being held and treated in a licensed medical facility, and that person decides to continue treatment by voluntarily signing consent for admission and treatment, the seventy-two-hour hold may be discontinued without filing an affidavit for commitment. Any respondent so held may be given such treatment as indicated by standard medical practice. Persons acting in good faith in connection with the detention and reporting of a person believed to be mentally ill shall incur no liability, civil or criminal, for those acts.
(b) Whenever an individual is held for purposes of receiving treatment as prescribed under paragraph (a) of this subsection, and it is communicated to the mental health professional holding the individual that the individual resides or has visitation rights with a minor child, and if the individual is considered to be a danger to the minor child, the mental health professional shall notify the Department of Child Protection Services prior to discharge if the threat of harm continues to exist, as is required under Section 43-21-353.
This paragraph (b) shall be known and may be cited as the "Andrew Lloyd Law."
SECTION 2. Section 19-5-43, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
19-5-43. The boards of supervisors in their respective counties shall temporarily provide for the care and maintenance of any person alleged to have mental illness when the person has no means of paying that expense, pending an investigation into the mental status of the person alleged to have mental illness before the chancery clerk of the county, and provide for the care and maintenance of those persons by the sheriff of their respective counties after being adjudged as a person with mental illness by the properly constituted authority, when there is no room in one (1) of the state psychiatric hospitals or institutions for the person with mental illness. The boards shall cause all reasonable and proper allowance for that care and maintenance to be paid out of the county treasury.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2024.
