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: 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 consumers, 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 consumer 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 consumer 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 consumer is transported pursuant to the provisions of the compact or from which it is contemplated that a consumer may be so sent.
(b) “Receiving state” shall mean a party state to which a consumer is transported pursuant to the provisions of the compact or to which it is contemplated that a consumer may be so sent.
(c) “Facility” 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) “Consumer” 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) “After-care” shall mean care, treatment and services provided a consumer, 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 the welfare of the person, 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 persons so afflicted are incapable of managing themselves and their 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, the person shall be eligible for care and treatment in an institution in that state irrespective of the residence of the person, settlement or citizenship qualifications.
(b) The provisions of paragraph (a) of this article to the contrary notwithstanding, any consumer may be transferred to a facility in another state whenever there are factors based upon clinical determinations indicating that the care and treatment of said consumer 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 full record of the consumer with due regard for the location of the family of the consumer, 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 consumer pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (b) of this article unless the sending state has given advance notice of its intention to send the consumer; furnished all available medical and other pertinent records concerning the consumer; given the qualified medical or other appropriate clinical authorities of the receiving state an opportunity to examine the consumer if said authorities so wish; and unless the receiving state shall agree to accept the consumer.
(d) In the event that the laws of the receiving state establish a system of priorities for the admission of consumers, an interstate consumer under this compact shall receive the same priority as a local consumer and shall be taken in the same order and at the same time that he would be taken if he were a local consumer.
(e) Pursuant to this compact, the determination as to the suitable place of institutionalization for a consumer may be reviewed at any time and such further transfer of the consumer may be made as seems likely to be in the best interest of the consumer.
ARTICLE IV
(a) Whenever, pursuant to the laws of the state in which a consumer is physically present, it shall be determined that the consumer 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 consumer in the sending state shall have reason to believe that aftercare in another state would be in the best interest of the consumer and would not jeopardize the public safety, they shall request the appropriate authorities in the receiving state to investigate the desirability of affording the consumer 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 intended place of residence of the consumer and the identity of the person in whose charge it is proposed to place the consumer, the complete medical history of the consumer, 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 consumer in the sending state and the appropriate authorities in the receiving state find that the best interest of the consumer would be served thereby, and if the public safety would not be jeopardized thereby, the consumer may receive aftercare or supervision in the receiving state.
(c) In supervising, treating, or caring for a consumer 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 consumers.
ARTICLE V
Whenever a dangerous or potentially dangerous consumer 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 consumer, the consumer 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 consumer, shall be permitted to transport any consumer 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 consumer of more than one facility at any given time. Completion of transfer of any consumer to a facility in a receiving state shall have the effect of making the person a consumer of the facility in the receiving state.
(b) The sending state shall pay all costs of and incidental to the transportation of any consumer 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 guardian of the consumer on behalf of the guardian or in respect of any patient for whom the guardian may serve, except that where the transfer of any consumer 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 consumer 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 consumer.
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 consumer shall be placed or detained in any prison, jail or lockup, but such consumer shall, with all expedition, be taken to a suitable facility for mental illness or mental deficiency.
ARTICLE X
(a) Each party state shall appoint a “compact administrator” who, on behalf of the state of the compact administrator, shall act as general coordinator of activities under the compact in the state of the compact administrator and who shall receive copies of all reports, correspondence, and other documents relating to any consumer processed under the compact by the state of the compact administrator either in the capacity of sending or receiving state. The compact administrator or a duly designated representative shall be the official with whom other party states shall deal in any matter relating to the compact or any consumer 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 (1) 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 consumer 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
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 circumstance 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.
Added by Laws 1959, p. 191, § 1, emerg. eff. July 16, 1959. Renumbered from § 501 of this title by Laws 1986, c. 103, § 103, eff. Nov. 1, 1986. Amended by Laws 2005, c. 150, § 54, emerg. eff. May 9, 2005.