(a) The interstate compact on mental health is hereby enacted into law
and entered into by this state with all other states legally joining
therein in the form substantially as follows:
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) "Aftercare" 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 aftercare 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
aftercare 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 aftercare 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
aftercare or supervision in the receiving state.
(c) In supervising, treating, or caring for a patient on aftercare
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 nonparty 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 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 will 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
(a) 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 circumstances 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.
(b) Pursuant to the compact, the governor may designate an officer who
shall be the compact administrator and who, acting jointly with like
officers of other party states, may promulgate rules and regulations to
carry out more effectively the terms of this compact. The compact
administrator shall serve subject to the pleasure of the governor. The
compact administrator shall cooperate with all departments, agencies,
and officers of and in the government of the state and its subdivisions
in facilitating the proper administration of the compact or of any
supplementary agreement or agreements entered into by this state
thereunder.
(c) The compact administrator may enter into supplementary agreements
with appropriate officials of other states pursuant to Articles VII and
XI of the compact. In the event that supplementary agreements require or
contemplate the use of any facility of this state or require or
contemplate the provision of any service by this state, they shall not
have force or effect until approved by the head of the department or
agency under whose jurisdiction said facility is operated or whose
department or agency will be charged with the rendering of service.
(d) The compact administrator, subject to the approval of the
comptroller, may make or arrange for payments necessary to discharge any
financial obligations imposed upon this state by the compact or by any
supplementary agreement.
(e) Duly authenticated copies of this act shall, upon its approval, be
transmitted by the secretary of state to the governor of each state, the
attorney general, and the secretary of state of the United States, and
the council of state governments.