PRINTER'S NO. 978
No. 876 Session of 1999
INTRODUCED BY GREENLEAF AND BOSCOLA, APRIL 28, 1999
REFERRED TO PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE, APRIL 28, 1999
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of May 25, 1921 (P.L.1144, No.425), entitled
2 "An act creating a Department of Public Welfare; defining its
3 powers and duties; abolishing the Board of Public Charities,
4 the Committee on Lunacy, and the Prison Labor Commission, and
5 all offices thereunder, and vesting all the powers of said
6 board, committee, and commission in the Department of Public
7 Welfare; requiring all reports, notices, statements, or
8 matters, heretofore required to be made, given, or submitted
9 to the Board of Public Charities or the Committee on Lunacy,
10 to be made, given, or submitted to the Department of Public
11 Welfare; and providing penalties," further providing for the
12 powers of the Department of Public Welfare relating to the
13 commitment of juvenile delinquents.
14 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
15 hereby enacts as follows:
16 Section 1. Section 13(1) of the act of May 25, 1921
17 (P.L.1144, No.425), entitled, "An act creating a Department of
18 Public Welfare; defining its powers and duties; abolishing the
19 Board of Public Charities, the Committee on Lunacy, and the
20 Prison Labor Commission, and all offices thereunder, and vesting
21 all the powers of said board, committee, and commission in the
22 Department of Public Welfare; requiring all reports, notices,
23 statements, or matters, heretofore required to be made, given,
1 or submitted to the Board of Public Charities or the Committee
2 on Lunacy, to be made, given, or submitted to the Department of
3 Public Welfare; and providing penalties," is amended to read:
4 Section 13. The department shall have and may exercise
5 power--
6 (1) To make and enforce rules and regulations, as follows:
7 (a) Providing for the licensing of all houses or places in
8 which any person can be lawfully detained as a lunatic or of
9 unsound mind upon compensation paid to or received by the owner
10 or occupant of such house or place, directly or indirectly, for
11 the care of such lunatic, and also of all houses, places, or
12 institutions, in which more than one person of unsound mind is
13 detained or resides, other than a jail or prison, with the right
14 to exempt any State institution, institution under municipal
15 authority, or any other institution.
16 (b) To insure the proper care and treatment of persons of
17 unsound mind detained in any house, place, or institution,
18 whether licensed or not, to guard against the improper or
19 unnecessary detention of such persons, to regulate the manner of
20 their detention and the restraints imposed and all matters
21 relative to their welfare, to regulate their means of
22 communication with relatives, friends, and other persons outside
23 the house, place, or institution of detention, and to insure to
24 them the admission of all proper visitors, being members of
25 their family or personal friends, agents, or attorneys.
26 (c) Regulating the forms to be observed warranting the
27 commitment, transfer of custody, and discharge of all lunatics,
28 other than those committed by order of a court of record, and,
29 as to these, with the consent of the presiding judge of the
30 court under whose order the person is detained.
19990S0876B0978 - 2 -
1 (d) To prescribe standards of equipment, management, and
2 administration for the institutions, associations, and
3 societies, into whose care the custody of delinquent, neglected,
4 or dependent children may be committed, and to insure proper
5 care of the children committed to the custody of such
6 institution, association, or society. The department shall
7 insure that no juvenile forensic unit shall be located on the
8 premises of a private psychiatric hospital which is in an area
9 zoned residential or which is within one quarter mile of an area
10 zoned residential. The distance of one quarter mile shall be
11 measured from the property line of the premises of the private
12 psychiatric hospital.
13 (e) For regulating the visitation, examination, and
14 inspection of the institutions, prisons, almshouses, poorhouses,
15 houses, places, associations, societies, or homes, under the
16 supervision of the department pursuant to the provisions of
17 section nine hereof.
18 (f) For the enforcement of the provisions of this act and of
19 all laws whose enforcement is imposed upon the department.
20 (g) For the approval of psychopathic wards maintained by
21 hospitals for the reception and care of persons suffering with
22 mental disorders.
23 * * *
24 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
D6L67JS/19990S0876B0978 - 3 -