City of Houston 2023Legislative Report

Legislative Priorities

Bill Sponsors / Authors:

Royce West   Sen. Royce West
  D - Dallas

 

Supporting Documents / Links:

Legislative Priorities GraphicSenate Bill 2287 - Emergency Detention Orders

Currently, emergency departments and hospitals are not authorized to hold an individual who initially requests mental health services, then subsequently requests to leave. This provides hospital employees with few options other than calling law enforcement in the case of emergency.

Quorum Report in June of 2015 discussed Governor Greg Abbott’s veto of Senate Bill 359 by Senator Royce West that caught mental health professionals and law enforcement off guard as the bill looked to directly address this problem:

“It (Senate Bill 359) would have allowed emergency room doctors detain a patient for up to four hours if the person seemed to pose an imminent threat to themselves or others because of severe mental illness.

Under current Texas law, patients who self-admit for non-psychiatric causes but show signs of dangerousness can only be asked to stay at the hospital. Doctors can call police, but, “That person’s already out the door by the time police get there,” says Greg Hansch of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Texas branch.”

Fast forward to September of 2020, and Mayor Sylvester Turner’s Task Force on Policing Reform made an intervention recommendation to amend Chapter 573 of Texas Health and Safety Code on Emergency Detention Orders (EDOs) to allow a physician and/or other health care professionals to execute a Notification of Detention, reducing law enforcement’s involvement.

  • HPD executed 12,000 Notifications of Detention related to EDOs in 2019.

As the report notes, “Authorizing a physician and/or other health care professionals to execute Notifications of Detention would reduce law enforcement’s role in this process involving persons in mental health crises. The Legislature must pass a new law to make this change.”

Senate Bill 2287, as filed by Senator Royce West in 2023, would have allowed certain non-physician mental health professionals to file an application for emergency detention with an inpatient mental health facility for a preliminary examination without the assistance of a peace officer.

With such a large increase in these types of calls, HPD utilizes civilian clinicians with a bachelor and masters level license to go to certain low level, non-violent calls for service. These valuable resources can be immediately dispatched throughout the city and can assess the patient.

With the inclusion of mental health professionals and others in the emergency detention process, this change would have provided for a more humane and professional response to individuals who may be suffering with mental issues.

Senate Bill 2287 made it out of committee but did not go before the full Senate for a vote.