Pre-filed December 13, 1999, and 1000 copies ordered printed.
Read 1st time January 5, 2000.
Read 2nd time January 6, 2000, and referred to the Committee on Public Health, January 6, 2000.
Reported from the Committee on Public Health, February 7, 2000, with recommendation that the bill Do Pass by Consent.
Perfected by Consent February 21, 2000.
ANNE C. WALKER, Chief Clerk
To repeal section 199.200, RSMo 1994, and 199.180, RSMo Supp. 1999, relating to tuberculosis, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections relating to the same subject.
Section A. Section 199.200, RSMo 1994, and section 199.180, RSMo Supp. 1999, are repealed and two new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 199.180 and 199.200, to read as follows:
199.180. 1. A person found to have tuberculosis shall follow the instructions of the local board, shall obtain the required treatment, and shall minimize the risk of infecting others with tuberculosis.
2. When a person with active tuberculosis, or a person who is a potential transmitter, violates the rules, regulations, instructions, or orders promulgated by the department of health or the local board, and is thereby conducting himself or herself so as to expose other persons to danger of infection, after having been directed by the local board to comply with such rules, regulations, instructions, or orders, the local board may institute proceedings by petition for commitment, returnable to the circuit court of the county in which such person resides, or if the person be a nonresident or has no fixed place of abode, then in the county in which the person is found. Strictness of pleading shall not be required and a general allegation that the public health requires commitment of the person named therein shall be sufficient.
3. If the board determines that a person with active tuberculosis, or a person who is a potential transmitter, poses an immediate threat by conducting himself or herself so as to expose other persons to an immediate danger of infection, the board may file an ex parte petition for emergency temporary commitment pursuant to subsection 5 of section 199.200.
199.200. 1. Upon filing of the petition, the court shall set the matter down for a hearing either during term time or in vacation, which time shall be not less than five days nor more than fifteen days subsequent to filing. A copy of the petition together with summons stating the time and place of hearing shall be served upon the person three days or more prior to the time set for the hearing. Any X-ray picture and report of any written report relating to sputum examinations certified by the department of health shall be admissible in evidence without the necessity of the personal testimony of the person or persons making the examination and report.
2. The prosecuting attorney or the city attorney shall act as legal counsel for their respective local boards in this proceeding and such authority is hereby granted. The court shall appoint legal counsel for the individual named in the petition if requested to do so if such individual is unable to employ counsel.
3. All court costs incurred in proceedings under sections 199.170 to 199.270, including examinations required by order of the court but excluding examinations procured by the person named in the petition, shall be borne by the county in which the proceedings are brought.
4. Summons shall be served by the sheriff of the county in which proceedings under sections 199.170 to 199.270 are initiated and return thereof shall be made as in other civil cases.
5. Upon the filing of an ex parte petition for emergency temporary commitment pursuant to subsection 3 of section
199.180, the court shall hear the matter within ninety-six hours of such filing. The local board shall have the
authority to detain the individual named in the petition pending the court's ruling on the ex parte petition for
emergency temporary commitment. If the petition is granted, the individual named in the petition shall be confined
in a facility designated by the curators of the University of Missouri in accordance with section 199.230 until a full
hearing pursuant to subsections 1 to 4 of this section is held.
Missouri House of Representatives