Minnesota Session Laws - 1993, Regular Session

  
    Laws of Minnesota 1993 

                         CHAPTER 60-H.F.No. 846 
           An act relating to civil commitment; authorizing new 
          procedures for return of certain patients who are 
          absent from treatment facilities without 
          authorization; amending Minnesota Statutes 1992, 
          section 253B.23, subdivision 1a. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 253B.23, 
subdivision 1a, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 1a.  [RETURN OF AUTHORITY TO DETAIN AND TRANSPORT A 
MISSING PATIENT.] If a patient committed under this chapter or 
chapter 526, or detained under a court-ordered hold is absent 
without authorization, and either (1) does not return 
voluntarily within 72 hours of the time the unauthorized absence 
began; or (2) is considered by the head of the treatment 
facility to be a danger to self or others, then the head of the 
treatment facility shall order the patient to return to the 
treatment facility voluntarily.  The head of the treatment 
facility may request a health officer, a welfare officer, or a 
peace officer to return the patient to the treatment facility.  
The head of the treatment facility shall inform the committing 
court of the absence and the court shall direct a health or 
peace officer in the county where the patient is located to 
return the patient to the treatment facility or to another 
treatment facility. report the absence to the local law 
enforcement agency.  The head of the treatment facility shall 
also notify the committing court that the patient is absent and 
that the absence has been reported to the local law enforcement 
agency. 
    Upon receiving a report that a patient subject to this 
section is absent without authorization, the local law 
enforcement agency shall enter information on the patient 
through the criminal justice information system into the missing 
persons file of the National Crime Information Center computer 
according to the missing persons practices. 
    A patient about whom information has been entered under 
this section may be apprehended and held by a peace officer in 
any jurisdiction pending return to the facility from which the 
patient is absent without authorization.  A patient may also be 
returned to any facility operated by the commissioner of human 
services.  Patients committed under chapter 526 or committed as 
mentally ill and dangerous under section 253B.18, and detained 
under this subdivision, may be held in a jail or lockup only if: 
    (1) there is no other feasible place of detention for the 
patient; 
    (2) the detention is for less than 24 hours; and 
    (3) there are protections in place, including segregation 
of the patient, to ensure the safety of the patient. 
    If a patient is detained under this subdivision, the head 
of the treatment facility from which the patient is absent shall 
arrange to pick up the patient within 24 hours of the time 
detention was begun and shall be responsible for securing 
transportation for the patient to the facility.  The expense of 
detaining and transporting a patient shall be the responsibility 
of the treatment facility from which the patient is absent.  The 
expense of returning the detaining and transporting a patient to 
a treatment facility operated by the department of human 
services shall be paid by the commissioner unless paid by the 
patient or the patient's relatives.  
    Immediately after an absent patient is located, the head of 
the treatment facility from which the patient is absent, or the 
law enforcement agency that located or returned the absent 
patient, shall notify the law enforcement agency that first 
received the absent patient report under this section and that 
agency shall cancel the missing persons entry from the National 
Crime Information Center computer. 
    Presented to the governor April 29, 1993 
    Signed by the governor April 30, 1993, 3:23 p.m.