By: Whitmire, Perry  S.B. No. 613
         (In the Senate - Filed January 25, 2017; February 13, 2017,
  read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
  March 23, 2017, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 7,
  Nays 0; March 23, 2017, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to services provided by the Health and Human Services
  Commission to sexually violent offenders who are incompetent to
  attend sex offender treatment.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 841.0835, Health and Safety Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         Sec. 841.0835.  COMMITTED PERSONS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS.  
  (a)  The Health and Human Services Commission, after coordination
  [shall coordinate] with the office, shall [to] provide psychiatric
  services, disability services, and housing for a committed person
  with an intellectual or developmental disability, a mental illness,
  or a physical disability that prevents the person from effectively
  participating in the sex offender treatment program administered by
  the office.
         (b)  For a committed person who the office has determined is
  unable to effectively participate in the sex offender treatment
  program because the person's mental illness prevents the person
  from understanding and internalizing the concepts presented by the
  program's treatment material, the Health and Human Services
  Commission shall provide inpatient mental health services until the
  person is able to participate effectively in the sex offender
  treatment program.
         (c)  A person who is adjudicated as a sexually violent
  predator under this chapter and who has a mental illness that
  prevents the person from effectively participating in a sex
  offender treatment program presents a substantial risk of serious
  harm to the person or others for purposes of Chapter 574.
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
 
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