AUSTIN - Refunds under the Health and Safety Code are not limited to only those hearings or proceedings involving commitment, Attorney General Ken Paxton opined on Friday.
The opinion request was submitted by Sen. Charles Perry, chairman of the Committee on Water, Agriculture, Rural Affairs, and asked whether the refund of court costs required by Health Code subsection 571.018(j) is limited to patients who are committed to a mental health facility
The request states that the section was amended last year by the Texas Legislature to provide that, if a mental health facility files a qualifying affidavit, the judge of a court conducting a relevant hearing or proceeding shall order the clerk of the court to “refund court costs paid or advanced for a person by an inpatient mental health facility” under certain circumstances where the facility received little or no compensation or reimbursement for treatment of the person.
The opinion found that subsection 571.018(j) requires court costs paid or advanced by certain inpatient mental health facilities to be refunded where its statutory requirements are met, and that subsection 571.018(h) generally prohibits the state and counties from paying costs for a patient committed to a private mental hospital unless its statutory requirements are met.
“Nothing in either subsection limits the scope of subsection 571.018(j) to only court costs concerning individuals that have been committed,” the opinion states.
“Accordingly, refunds under subsection 571.018(j) are not limited to only those hearings or proceedings involving commitment.”
Opinion No. KP-0460