N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law § 67.07: Interstate compact

§ 67.07 Interstate compact.

(a) 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:

INTERSTATE COMPACT ON MENTAL HEALTH

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 patients, 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 patient 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 patient 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 patient is

transported pursuant to the provisions of the compact or from which it

is contemplated that a patient may be so sent.

(b) "Receiving state" shall mean a party state to which a patient is

transported pursuant to the provisions of the compact or to which it is

contemplated that a patient may be so sent.

(c) "Institution" 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) "Patient" 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) "Aftercare" shall mean care, treatment, and services provided a

patient, 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 his own welfare, 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 a person so

afflicted is incapable of managing himself and his 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, he shall be eligible for care and treatment in an

institution in that state irrespective of his residence, settlement, or

citizenship qualifications.

(b) The provisions of paragraph (a) of this article to the contrary

notwithstanding, any patient may be transferred to an institution in

another state whenever there are factors based upon clinical

determinations indicating that the care and treatment of said patient

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 patient's full record with due regard for the location of

the patient's family, 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 patient pursuant to the

provisions of paragraph (b) of this article unless the sending state has

given advance notice of its intention to send the patient; furnished all

available medical and other pertinent records concerning the patient;

given the qualified medical or other appropriate clinical authorities of

the receiving state an opportunity to examine the patient if said

authorities so wish; and unless the receiving state shall agree to

accept the patient.

(d) In the event that the laws of the receiving state establish a

system of priorities for the admission of patients, an interstate

patient under this compact shall receive the same priority as a local

patient and shall be taken in the same order and at the same time that

he would be taken if he were a local patient.

(e) Pursuant to this compact, the determination as to the suitable

place of institutionalization for a patient may be reviewed at any time

and such further transfer of the patient may be made as seems likely to

be in the best interest of the patient.

Article IV

(a) Whenever, pursuant to the laws of the state in which a patient is

physically present, it shall be determined that the patient 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 patient in the sending state shall have reason to believe that

aftercare in another state would be in the best interest of the patient

and would not jeopardize the public safety, they shall request the

appropriate authorities in the receiving state to investigate the

desirability of affording the patient 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 patient's intended place of residence and the

identity of the person in whose charge it is proposed to place the

patient, the complete medical history of the patient, 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 patient in the sending

state and the appropriate authorities in the receiving state find that

the best interest of the patient would be served thereby and if the

public safety would not be jeopardized thereby, the patient may receive

aftercare or supervision in the receiving state.

(c) In supervising, treating, or caring for a patient 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 patients.

Article V

Whenever a dangerous or potentially dangerous patient 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 patient,

he 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 patient,

shall be permitted to transport any patient 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 patient of more than one institution

at any given time. Completion of transfer of any patient to an

institution in a receiving state shall have the effect of making the

person a patient of the institution in the receiving state.

(b) The sending state shall pay all costs of and incidental to the

transportation of any patient 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

patient's guardian on his own behalf or in respect of any patient for

whom he may serve, except that where the transfer of any patient 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 patient 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 patient.

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 patient shall be placed or detained in any

prison, jail or lockup, but such patient shall, with all expedition, be

taken to a suitable institutional facility for mental illness or mental

deficiency.

Article X

(a) Each party state shall appoint a "compact administrator" who, on

behalf of his state, shall act as general coordinator of activities

under the compact in his state and who will receive copies of all

reports, correspondence, and other documents relating to any patient

processed under the compact by his state either in the capacity of

sending or receiving state. The compact administrator or his duly

designated representative shall be the official with whom other party

states shall deal in any matter relating to the compact or any patient

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 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

patient 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

(a) 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 circumstances 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.

(b) Pursuant to the compact, the governor may designate an officer who

shall be the compact administrator and who, acting jointly with like

officers of other party states, may promulgate rules and regulations to

carry out more effectively the terms of this compact. The compact

administrator shall serve subject to the pleasure of the governor. The

compact administrator shall cooperate with all departments, agencies,

and officers of and in the government of the state and its subdivisions

in facilitating the proper administration of the compact or of any

supplementary agreement or agreements entered into by this state

thereunder.

(c) The compact administrator may enter into supplementary agreements

with appropriate officials of other states pursuant to Articles VII and

XI of the compact. In the event that supplementary agreements require or

contemplate the use of any facility of this state or require or

contemplate the provision of any service by this state, they shall not

have force or effect until approved by the head of the department or

agency under whose jurisdiction said facility is operated or whose

department or agency will be charged with the rendering of service.

(d) The compact administrator, subject to the approval of the

comptroller, may make or arrange for payments necessary to discharge any

financial obligations imposed upon this state by the compact or by any

supplementary agreement.

(e) Duly authenticated copies of this act shall, upon its approval, be

transmitted by the secretary of state to the governor of each state, the

attorney general, and the secretary of state of the United States, and

the council of state governments.