S 0455 General Bill, By Thomas

Similar(H 4074)
 A Bill to amend Title 44, Chapter 9, Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976,
 relating to the Department of Mental Health, so as to abolish the South
 Carolina Mental Health Commission and to transfer the powers and duties of the
 Commission to the Director of the Department of Mental Health and to revise
 these powers and duties; to amend Title 44, Chapter 11, relating to the
 organization and control of state mental health facilities, so as to establish
 the William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute as the regional psychiatric hospital
 for certain mental health centers and to change references from the Commission
 to the Director; to amend Section 44-15-60, as amended, relating to the
 establishment and composition of community mental health center boards, so as
 to establish regional boards; to amend Section 44-15-70, relating to powers of
 community mental health center boards, so as to revise these powers; and to
 amend Section 44-52-5, relating to state policy for the treatment of chemical
 dependence, so as to transfer all powers, duties, property, personnel, and
 financial resources for the treatment of individuals with chemical addictions
 to the Department of Mental Health.

   02/07/95  Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-14
   02/07/95  Senate Referred to Committee on Medical Affairs SJ-14

A BILL

TO AMEND TITLE 44, CHAPTER 9, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH, SO AS TO ABOLISH THE SOUTH CAROLINA MENTAL HEALTH COMMISSION AND TO TRANSFER THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION TO THE DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH AND TO REVISE THESE POWERS AND DUTIES; TO AMEND TITLE 44, CHAPTER 11, RELATING TO THE ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL OF STATE MENTAL HEALTH FACILITIES, SO AS TO ESTABLISH THE WILLIAM S. HALL PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE AS THE REGIONAL PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL FOR CERTAIN MENTAL HEALTH CENTERS AND TO CHANGE REFERENCES FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE DIRECTOR; TO AMEND SECTION 44-15-60, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT AND COMPOSITION OF COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH CENTER BOARDS, SO AS TO ESTABLISH REGIONAL BOARDS; TO AMEND SECTION 44-15-70, RELATING TO POWERS OF COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH CENTER BOARDS, SO AS TO REVISE THESE POWERS; AND TO AMEND SECTION 44-52-5, RELATING TO STATE POLICY FOR THE TREATMENT OF CHEMICAL DEPENDENCE, SO AS TO TRANSFER ALL POWERS, DUTIES, PROPERTY, PERSONNEL, AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES FOR THE TREATMENT OF INDIVIDUALS WITH CHEMICAL ADDICTIONS TO THE DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Title 44, Chapter 9 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

Section 44-9-10. There is hereby created the State Department of Mental Health which shall have has jurisdiction over all of the State's mental hospitals, clinics and centers, joint State and community sponsored mental health clinics and centers and facilities for the treatment and care of alcohol and drug addicts, including the authority to name each facility state operated mental health inpatient facilities and through contractual relationships with mental health centers shall ensure that the goals and mission of the State are honored and attained.

Section 44-9-20. All the powers and duties vested in the South Carolina Mental Health Commission immediately prior to March 26, 1964 are hereby transferred to and vested in the Department of Mental Health. All records, files and other papers belonging to the South Carolina Mental Health Commission shall e continued as part of the records and files of the Department of Mental Health.

Section 44-9-30. (A)(1) There is created the governing board for the State Department of Mental Health known as the South Carolina Mental Health known as the South Carolina Mental Health Commission. The commission consists of seven members appointed by the Governor, upon the advice and consent of the Senate, as follows:

(a) one member from each of the six congressional districts;

(b) one member from the State at large.

(2) The members serve for terms of five years and until their successors are appointed and quality. The terms of no more than two members may expire in one year. The Governor may remove a member pursuant to the provisions of Section 1-3-240. A vacancy must be filled by the Governor for the unexpired portion of the term.

(C) The commission shall determine policies and promulgate regulations governing the operation of the department and the employment of professional and staff personnel.

(D) The members shall receive the same subsistence, mileage, and per diem provided by law for members of state boards, committees, and commissions. The State Director of Mental Health must be appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate and may be removed by the Governor in accordance with Section 1-3-240.

Section 44-9-40. The Mental Health Commission shall appoint and remove a State Director of Mental Health, who is the chief executive of the State Department of Mental Health. Subject to the supervision and control of the Mental Health Commission, the state director shall administer the policies and regulations established by the commission. The director must be a person of proven executive and administrative ability with appropriate requisite education and substantial experience in and knowledge of the treatment the field of mental illness treatment. The director must appoint and remove all other offices and employees of the Department of Mental Health, subject to the approval of the Mental Health Commission.

Section 44-9-50. The Department of Mental Health may be divided into such divisions as may be authorized by the Director of Mental Health and approved by the commission. These divisions may be headed by deputy commissioners, but any deputy commissioner heading a medical division must be a medical doctor duly licensed in South Carolina. One of the divisions shall be a Division on Alcohol and Drug Addiction which shall have primary responsibility in the State for treatment of alcohol and drug addicts. One of the divisions shall be a Division for Long-Term Care which shall have primary responsibility for care and treatment of elderly persons who are mentally and physically handicapped to the extent that their needs are not met in other facilities either public or private.

Section 44-9-60. The Director of the Department of Mental Health may appoint a superintendent of each hospital, with the approval of the Mental Health Commission. Each superintendent shall must be knowledgeable in the treatment of the mentally ill and in hospital administration. The superintendent of each institution under the jurisdiction of the Department of Mental Health shall be is responsible for the employment of all personnel at the institution, subject to the approval of the director of the department. The director may serve as superintendent of one or more hospitals or other mental health facilities.

Section 44-9-70. The State Department of Mental Health is hereby designated as the state's mental health authority for purposes of administering federal funds allotted to South Carolina under the provisions of the National Mental Health Act, as amended. The State Department of Mental Health is further designated as the state agency authorized to administer minimum standards and requirements for mental health clinics as conditions for participation in federal-state grants-in-aid under the provisions of the National Mental Health Act, as amended, and is authorized to promote and develop community mental health outpatient clinics. Provided, that However, nothing in this article shall may be construed to prohibit the operation of outpatient mental health clinics by the South Carolina Medical College Hospital in Charleston. Provided, further, that, and nothing herein shall in this article may be construed to include any of the functions or responsibilities now granted the Department of Health and Environmental Control, or the administration of the State Hospital Construction Act (Hill-Burton Act), as provided in the 1976 Code of Laws and amendments thereto.

Section 44-9-80. Payments made to a mental health facility which are derived in whole or in part from federal funds which become available after June 30, 1967, and which are provided with the stipulation that they be used to improve services to patients shall must not be considered fees from paying patients under the terms of Act No. 1100 of 1964 but may be utilized by the State Department of Mental Health to improve South Carolina's comprehensive mental health program.

Section 44-9-90. The Commission Director of the Department of Mental Health shall have the following rights, powers and duties:

(1) It shall form a body corporate in deed and in law with all the powers incident to corporations;

(2) It shall cooperate with persons in charge of penal institutions in this State for the purpose of providing proper care and treatment for mental patients confined therein because of emergency;

(3) It shall inaugurate and maintain an appropriate mental health education and public relations program;

(4) It shall collect statistics bearing on mental illness, mental deficiency, epilepsy, drug addiction and alcoholism, as well as study the cause, pathology and prevention of mental defects and diseases;

(5) It shall provide moral and vocational training and medical and surgical treatment which will tend to the mental and physical betterment of patients and which is designed to lessen the increase of mental illness, mental defectiveness, epilepsy., drug addiction and alcoholism; and

(6) It shall encourage the superintendents of institutions and their medical staffs in the investigation and study of these subjects and of mental hygiene in general.

(7) It shall provide a statewide system for the delivery of mental health services to treat, care for, reduce and prevent mental illness and provide mental health services in the areas of mental defectiveness, epilepsy, drug addiction and alcoholism for citizens of this State,whether or not in an institution. The system shall include services to prevent or postpone the commitment or recommitment of citizens to mental health institutions.

(1) maintain and employ professionals qualified to operate all inpatient treatment programs operated by the State for the mentally ill and chemically addicted;

(2) develop a state plan for treatment of the mentally ill, chemically addicted, and seriously emotionally disturbed;

(3) review service implementation plans submitted by community mental health center boards and determine priorities for funding plans or portions of plans subject to available funds;

(4) review programs provided by community mental health center boards;

(5) offer consultation and direction to community mental health boards;

(6) take other action not inconsistent with law to promote a high quality of services to persons who are mentally ill, chemically addicted, and seriously emotionally disturbed and their families.

Section 44-9-100. The commission director may:

(1) prescribe the form of and information to be contained in applications, records, reports, and medical certificates provided for under this chapter, Chapter 11, Chapter 13, Article 1 of Chapter 15, Chapter 17, Chapter 22, Chapter 23, Chapter 24, Chapter 27, and Chapter 52;

(2) require reports from the superintendent of an institution relating to the admission, examination, diagnosis, discharge, or conditional discharge of a patient;

(3) investigate complaints made by a patient or by a person on behalf of a patient;

(4) adopt regulations not inconsistent with this chapter, Chapter 11, Chapter 13, Article 1 of Chapter 15, Chapter 17, Chapter 22, Chapter 23, Chapter 24, Chapter 27, and Chapter 52 as it may find the director finds to be reasonably necessary for the government of all institutions over which it has authority and of state mental health facilities and the proper and efficient institutionalization of the mentally ill, mentally defective, epileptic, psychotic, senile, drug addicted, or alcoholic;

(5) take appropriate action to initiate and develop relationships and agreements with state, local, federal, and private agencies, hospitals, and clinics as it the director considers necessary to increase and enhance the accessibility and delivery of emergency and all other types of mental health services.

Section 44-9-110. The Mental Health Commission director of the department may accept gifts, bequests, devises, grants, and donations of money or real or personal property on behalf of the Department of Mental Health department or any of its facilities or services, gifts, bequests, devises, grants, donations of money or real and personal property of whatever kind, but no such gift or grant shall may be accepted upon the condition that it shall diminish diminishes an obligation due the department. The Commission director may refuse to accept any such a gift or grant and the acceptance of any such a gift or grant shall does not incur any obligation on the part of the State. Any A gift or grant given to a specific facility or service shall must be used for that facility or service only, or to its successor. The Commission director may promulgate rules and regulations governing the disposition of such gifts and grants.

Section 44-9-120. The Commission director shall submit an annual report to the Governor before the eleventh day of January of each year setting forth its activities, and the financial affairs and the state and condition of the state mental health facilities and any other statistical information which is usually required of facilities of the type over which it has charge. The report shall include any recommendations which in the opinion of the Commission director will improve the mental health program of the State. A copy of the report shall also must be submitted to the General Assembly.

Section 44-9-160. Wherever in the 1976 Code reference is made to the State Hospital, it shall mean means a state hospital; wherever reference is made requiring the signature of the superintendent of any a mental health facility, it shall mean means the superintendent or his designee; and wherever reference is made to the State Commissioner of Mental Health, it shall mean means the State Director of the Department of Mental Health."

SECTION 2. Title 44, Chapter 11 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

Section 44-11-10. (A) The following These facilities shall continue in existence and shall must be maintained for the following these purposes:

(1) The South Carolina State Hospital at Columbia and Crafts-Farrow State Hospital at State Park shall must be maintained for the care and treatment of persons who are mentally ill and those persons accused of crime who have been admitted to the hospital in accordance with the provisions of Section 44-17-610;

(2) The William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute at Columbia shall be maintained as a teaching hospital for the primary purposes of training mental health personnel and psychiatric research, in connection with the general purposes described in this section; and serve as a public psychiatric regional hospital serving Columbia Area Mental Health Center, Lexington Community Mental Health Center, and Santee-Wateree Community Mental Health Center and shall provide assessment services for children and adolescents for all community mental health centers operating as public agencies through contracts with the Department of Mental Health. The Institute shall contract with the Medical University of South Carolina for training opportunities.

(3) The mental health clinics shall must be maintained for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental illness and chemical addiction and for services to children with emotional disturbances.

(B) The department shall provide legal services to the public community mental health centers through the Department of Mental Health Office of General Counsel.

(C) A Division of Information Resource Management must be established to provide assistance to the community mental health boards. The division shall ensure that client information is protected and shared between the department and the community mental health system. The department may establish maintenance fees and upgrade charges for this service. However, all equipment presently purchased and located in community mental health centers must be transferred to the boards effective July 1, 1995.

Section 44-11-30. The South Carolina Director of the Department of Mental Health Commission may, in mutual agreement with the authorities of the United States Veterans Administration, may establish a South Carolina Veterans Home to be located on grounds owned by the Department of Mental Health. The purpose of this home is to provide treatment for South Carolina veterans who are mentally ill or whose physical condition requires long-term nursing care. Admission requirements to the home shall must be the same as any other facility operated by the department except that the patients at this facility shall must be South Carolina veterans. The South Carolina State Department of Mental Health Commission is designated as the agency of the State to apply for and to accept gifts, grants, and other contributions from the federal government or from any other governmental unit units for the operation and construction of a South Carolina Veterans Home.

Section 44-11-40. For the purpose of Section 4-11-30 `South Carolina veterans' means any an ex-service South Carolina citizen who was discharged under other than dishonorable conditions and who served in any a branch of the military or naval service of the United States.

Section 44-11-60. The Director of the Department of Mental Health Commission shall establish mental health clinics throughout the State and shall supervise them.

Section 44-11-70. The Director of the Department of Mental Health Commission may authorize the superintendents to employ suitable persons to act as marshals to keep intruders off and prevent trespass upon state mental health facilities. The marshals employed, insofar as state mental health facilities are concerned, shall be are vested with all the powers and charged with all the duties of police officers generally. They may eject trespassers. They may without warrant arrest persons guilty of disorderly conduct or of trespass on state mental health facilities and have them tried in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Section 44-11-80. The Director of the Department of Mental Health Commission shall fix the amount of the salaries or emoluments of all officers and employees of state mental health facilities.

Section 44-11-110. The Director of the Department of Mental Health Commission may, by resolution recorded on the minutes of its meetings, may grant easements, permits, or rights of way rights-of-way on, over, or under the grounds of the facilities, but none may be granted unless approved in writing by the Attorney General before delivery."

SECTION 3. Section 44-15-60 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Section 1076 of Act 181 of 1993, is further amended to read:

"Section 44-15-60. Every county, city, town, or political subdivision, or combination of them, establishing a community mental health services program, before it may come within this article, shall establish a community mental health board to be made up of not less than seven nor more than fifteen members. Membership of the boards, so far as may be practicable, must be representatives of local health departments, medical societies, county welfare boards, hospital boards, and lay associations concerned with mental health as well as labor, business, and civic groups, and the general public. At least one member of the board must be a medical doctor licensed to practice medicine in this State. The members must be appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of a majority of the members of the legislative delegations of the counties participating. The legislative delegations and the Governor shall consider consumer and family representation, including parents of emotionally disturbed children and adolescents, when recommending and appointing members to the board. By resolution a county legislative delegation may delegate to the governing body of the county they represent the authority to recommend board members to the Governor. The resolution is not revocable, and copies of the resolution must be sent to the Governor, the Department of Mental Health, and the governing bodies of the counties concerned. The number of members representing each county must be proportional to its population. The term of office of each member of the community mental health board is four years and until the member's successor is appointed. Vacancies must be filled for the unexpired term in the same manner as original appointments. A member of a board may be removed by the Governor pursuant to the provisions of Section 1-3-240. A person may serve consecutive terms.

(A) Effective July 1, 1995, the following community mental health center boards must be conferred the duties and responsibilities as defined in Section 44-15-70:

(1) Aiken/Barnwell/Edgefield Community Mental Health Center Board serving Aiken, Barnwell, and Edgefield counties;

(2) Anderson, Oconee, Pickens Mental Health Center Board serving Anderson, Oconee, and Pickens counties;

(3) Beckman Community Mental Health Center Board serving Abbeville, Greenwood, Laurens, McCormick, Newberry, and Saluda counties;

(4) Berkeley Community Mental Health Center Board serving Berkeley County;

(5) Catawba Community Mental Health Center Board serving Chester, Lancaster, and York counties;

(6) Charleston Community Mental Health Center Board serving Charleston County;

(7) Coastal Empire Community Mental Health Center Board serving Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper counties;

(8) Columbia Area Mental Health Center Board serving Richland and Fairfield counties;

(9) Dorchester Community Mental Health Center Board serving Dorchester County;

(10) Greenville Community Mental Health Center Board serving Greenville County;

(11) Orangeburg Community Mental Health Center Board serving Bamberg, Calhoun, and Orangeburg counties;

(12) Lexington Community Mental Health Center Board serving Lexington County;

(13) Pee Dee Mental Health Center Board serving Darlington, Florence, and Marion counties;

(14) Santee-Wateree Community Mental Health Center Board serving Clarendon, Kershaw, Lee, and Sumter counties;

(15) Spartanburg Area Community Mental Health Center Board serving Cherokee, Spartanburg, and Union counties;

(16) Tri-County Community Mental Health Center Board serving Chesterfield, Dillon, and Marlboro counties;

(17) Waccamaw Community Mental Health Center Board serving Georgetown, Horry, and Williamsburg counties.

(B) All board members must be nominated by the respective legislative delegations the center serves unless the power has been conferred by the delegation to county council and appointed by the Governor. The Governor may remove a board member for neglect of duty, misconduct, or malfeasance in office after being given a written statement and an opportunity to respond. If the center serves a multicounty area, board representation must be proportionate to population.

(C) The board may not be comprised of fewer than seven nor more than fifteen members. The term of office for all board members is four years and the member shall serve until a successor is appointed and qualifies. Each board shall meet on a quarterly basis and shall provide a report to the Director of the Department of Mental Health on an annual basis."

SECTION 4. Section 44-15-70 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 44-15-70. Subject to the provisions of this article and the rules and regulations of the Department of Mental Health, each community mental health board shall:

(1) Be the administrative agency for the community mental health services program; and it shall be a body corporate in deed and in law with all the powers incident to corporation, including the power to purchase, lease or sell real and personal property;

(2) Employ personnel necessary to carry out the community mental health services program, who shall meet the job specifications as prescribed by the Department and its merit system;

(3) Review and evaluate community mental health services provided pursuant to this article and report its findings and recommendations to the Department, the administrator of the local program and, when indicated, the public;

(4) Recruit and promote local financial support for the program from private sources such as community chests, business industrial and private foundations, voluntary agencies and other lawful sources, and promote public support for municipal and county appropriations;

(5) Promote, arrange and implement working agreements with other social service agencies, both public and private, and with other educational and judicial agencies;

(6) Advise the administrator of the local program on the adoption and implementation of policies to stimulate effective community relations; and

(7) Review the annual plan and budget of the local program and make recommendations thereon.

(A) Community mental health center boards must be encouraged to apply for and utilize lawful sources of funding to further the development of appropriate community services for the treatment and prevention of serious mental illness, emotional disabilities, and chemical addictions and for persons affected and their families.

(B) Community mental health center boards may apply to the department for funds for community services development under terms and conditions as may be prescribed by the department. The department shall review applications and, subject to the limits prescribed in this section, shall fund services considered in the best interest of citizens of the State with serious mental illness, with emotional disabilities, and with chemical addictions.

(C) The department shall develop a policy related to inpatient bed utilization and reimbursement; however, no community mental health center may be charged for inpatient stays in fiscal year 1995-96. The formula developed by the department must be approved by the Governor and the Budget and Control Board before implementation by the department.

(D) The community mental health center boards are:

(1) the administrative, planning, coordinating, and service delivery bodies for community mental health centers funded in whole or in part by state appropriations or funded from other sources;

(2) each a corporate body in law and in deed with all powers and incidents including the powers incident to a corporation including the power to incur debt insofar as that debt is payable from contract, grant, or other revenues and is not the debt of the State or its political subdivisions. The Department of Mental Health is not responsible for debts incurred by the local boards. Property and equipment allocated to the community mental health centers must be transferred by the State to the boards July 1, 1995. All employees of the community mental health centers shall become employees of the boards effective July 1, 1995. All rights and benefits of employees must be protected for all employees of the centers transferred to board employment; however, effective July 1, 1995, all employees must be employees of the board and all benefits provided must be provided by the board. Nothing in this item prohibits the State from contracting for the provisions of benefits to employees of the board.

(3) required to submit an annual plan and projected budget to the department for approval and consideration of funding; however, the base appropriation to the community mental health centers must be no less than the appropriation provided in fiscal year 1994-95 and a formula based on per capita populations must be developed and adopted with the goal of equal funding at a rate no less than seventeen dollars per capita. This rate must be met through transfers of state appropriations through decrease in inpatient utilization and administration no later than July 1, 1999;

(4) required to review and evaluate on an annual basis the community mental health center boards' services provided pursuant to this section and report its findings to the Director of the Department of Mental Health;

(5) required to promote and accept local financial support for the community mental health program from private and other lawful sources and promote public support from municipal and county sources;

(6) required to employ personnel and expend funds for the direct delivery of services or contract with those service vendors necessary to carry out the community mental health services as prescribed by the department;

(7) required to plan, arrange, implement, and monitor agreements with other service agencies, public and private, and other educational and judicial agencies;

(8) required to provide records, reports, and access to its sponsored services and facilities the department may require and the centers may establish and regulate programs designed to reduce inpatient utilization and are exempt from the provisions of licensure and certificate of need if the capacity of the program does not exceed eight residents per program;

(9) required to represent the best interest of persons with mental illness, chemical addictions, serious emotional problems to the public, public officials, and other public or private organizations."

SECTION 5. Section 44-52-5 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding at the end:

"Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all powers, duties, property, personnel, and financial resources for the treatment of individuals with chemical addictions are transferred to the Department of Mental Health.

The physicians employed by the community mental health centers are eligible for liability coverage by the State of South Carolina Insurance Reserve Fund. Liability coverage to board members must be extended to community mental health center boards through the State of South Carolina for cost."

SECTION 6. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.