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TO AMEND CHAPTER 9, TITLE 44, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT THE DIRECTOR MUST BE APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR INSTEAD OF THE COMMISSION, PROVIDE FOR THE ADVISORY CAPACITY OF THE COMMISSION, AND MAKE OTHER CHANGES TO PROVIDE CONFORMITY WITH THIS RESTRUCTURING; AND TO AMEND SECTIONS 44-11-30, 44-11-60, 44-11-70, 44-11-80, AND 44-11-110, RELATING TO VARIOUS POWERS, DUTIES, AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA MENTAL HEALTH COMMISSION, SO AS TO FURTHER CONFORM THESE SECTIONS TO THE RESTRUCTURING OF THE POWERS OF THE COMMISSION.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Chapter 9, Title 44 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
Section 44-9-10. There is hereby created the State Department of Mental Health (department) 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.
Section 44-9-20. All the powers and duties vested in the South Carolina Mental Health Commission immediately prior to before 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 must be 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 advisory board for the State department of Mental Health known as the South Carolina Mental Health Commission Advisory Board. The commission advisory board 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 Governor shall consider consumer and family representation when appointing members.
(B) The members serve for terms of five years and until their successors are appointed and qualify. 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 advisory board shall determine advise the director regarding 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.
Section 44-9-40. The Mental Health Commission director is the chief executive of the State Department of Mental Health. The Governor shall appoint and remove a state director of Mental Health, who is chief executive of the State Department of Mental Health the department. Subject to the supervision and control of the Mental Health Commission, The state director shall administer the policies and regulations established by the commission Governor. The director must be a person of proven executive and administrative ability with appropriate education and substantial experience in the field of mental illness treatment. The director must appoint and remove all other officers and employees of the department of Mental Health, subject to the approval of the Mental Health Commission Governor.
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 must 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 must be a Division for Long-Term Care which shall have has 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 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 nothing herein shall in this chapter 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 to it.
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 are 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 shall have the following rights, powers and duties:
(1) It shall form the advisory board into 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 correctional institutions in this State for the purpose of providing proper care and treatment for mental patients confined therein in these institutions 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, 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; and
(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.
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 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, 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 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 may accept on behalf of the department of Mental Health 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 a gift or grant shall may not be accepted upon the condition that it shall diminish an obligation due the department. The Commission director may refuse to accept any such this gift or grant and the acceptance of any such this gift or grant shall may not incur any an 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 make rules and promulgate regulations governing the disposition of such these gifts and grants.
Section 44-9-120. The Commission director shall submit an annual report to the Governor before the eleventh day of January eleventh of each year setting forth its activities, 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 that 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 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. Sections 44-11-30, 44-11-60, 44-11-70, 44-11-80, and 44-11-110 of the 1976 Code are amended to read:
"Section 44-11-30. The South Carolina director of the State Department of Mental Health Commission (department), in mutual agreement with the authorities of the United States Veterans Administration, may establish South Carolina veterans homes to be located on grounds owned by the department of Mental Health. The purpose of these homes is to provide treatment for South Carolina veterans who are mentally ill or whose physical condition requires long-term nursing care. Admission requirements to these homes are the same as any other facility operated by the department except that the patients at these facilities must be South Carolina veterans. The South Carolina Mental Health Commission department 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 for the operation and construction of South Carolina veterans homes. The South Carolina Mental Health Commission department shall consult with the Division of Veterans Affairs, Office of the Governor, concerning the policies, management, and operation of the South Carolina veterans homes.
Section 44-11-60. The Mental Health Commission director of the department shall establish mental health clinics throughout the State and shall supervise them.
Section 44-11-70. The Mental Health Commission director of the department 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, in so far as state mental health facilities are concerned, shall must be 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 Mental Health Commission director of the department shall fix the amount of the salaries or emoluments of all officers and employees of state mental health facilities.
Section 44-11-110. The Mental Health Commission may, by resolution recorded on the minutes of its meetings, director of the department may grant easements, permits, or 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. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
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