OFPlCE OF THE ArroRNE” GENERAL. STATE OF TEX+.S 

JOHN CORNYN 

Ms. Susan A. Spataro, C.P.A., C.M.A 

Travis County Auditor 

P.O. Box 1748 

Austin, Texas 18767 

Dear Ms. Spataro: 

May 22,200O 

Opinion No. JC-0222 

Re: Clarification of Attorney General Opinion 

JC-0102 (1999) (RQ-OlS7-JC) 

You seek clarification ofAttorney General Opinion JC-0102 (1999), which addressed issues 

raised in your request letter of September 29, 1998. See Letter from Ms. Susan A. Spataro, 

C.P.A., C.M.A., Travis County Auditor, to Honorable Dan Morales, Attorney General of Texas 

(Sept. 29, 1998) (on file with Opinion Committee) [hereinafter “Request Letter I”]. Attorney 

General Opinion JC-0102 considered whether the Travis County Clerk had a duty to seek 

reimbursement from other counties for the costs of proceedings for involuntary mental health 

services conducted by a Travis County probate court, where another county was responsible for 

those court costs. See Tex. Att’y Gen. Op. No. K-0102 (1999). On the understanding that Travis 

County had already paid the costs of these proceedings and now wished to recover its expenditures 

from the county responsible for the costs, we determined that the reimbursements were not “court 

costs,” which the county clerk as clerk of the probate court might otherwise have a duty to collect 

from the responsible county, and concluded as follows: 

The county clerk does not have a statutory duty to collect the 

reimbursements to which a county may be entitled for mental health 

services proceeding costs actually paid by the county, but the 

commissioners court may delegate that responsibility to an 

appropriate county official. 

Id. at 5. 

You now explain that Travis County does not pay the court costs before it seeks payment 

from another county. See Letter from Ms. Susan A. Spataro, C.P.A., C.M.A., Travis County 

Auditor, to Honorable John Comyn, Attorney General ofTexas (Dec. 3,1999) (on file with Opinion 

Committee) [hereinafter “Request Letter II”]. You referred to the collection process as a 

“reimbursement” to describe the transaction in accounting terms and did not use this word in its 

ordinary sense. See id. at 1; see also XIII OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY 534 (2d ed. 1989) 

(“reimburse”means “[t]o repay or make up to one (a sum expended)“). “Travis County does not pay 

(or make a corresponding accounting entry on its books) the ‘court costs,’ but relies on an oral or 
Ms. Susan A. Spataro, C.P.A., C.M.A. - Page 2 (JC-0222) 

written representation by a ‘responsible county’ that ‘court costs’ will be paid upon receipt of a 

Clerk’s cost bill.” Request Letter II, supra, at 2. You enclose an example of another county’s 

promise to pay court costs. It is a written request from a Bexar County probate judge to a Travis 

County probate judge asking the Travis County judge to hold a commitment hearing on a resident 

of Bexar County in a Travis County facility and stating that the court costs should be billed to the 

Bexar County Clerk’s Office. 

Travis County wishes to recover “court costs” from counties that have accepted responsibility 

to pay these costs, but those counties are unwilling to pay without a clerk’s cost bill. You ask two 

questions related to the subject matter of Attorney General Opinion JC-0102. You first ask whether 

the county clerk of a county with a state hospital has a statutory duty to collect court costs to which 

a county may be entitled for mental health services proceedings if no county has paid the court costs. 

Section 571.018(b) of the Health and Safety Code requires the clerk of the court in which a mental 

health services proceeding is held to bill the responsible county for the costs of the proceeding. You 

also ask whether the costs listed under section 571 .018 ofthe Health and Safety Code are court costs 

and whether the county clerk has a duty to collect such costs. We conclude that the county clerk has 

a duty to collect these costs. 

The following facts provide the background for your inquiry about the clerk’s responsibility 

with respect to the collection ofthe court costs: The Austin State Hospital, located in Travis County, 

serves a “catchment area” of thirty-six counties within the state’s mental health system. Request 

Letter I, supra, at 1; see TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. 5 552.001 (Vernon 1992) (the 

Department ofMental Health and Mental Retardation shall divide the state into hospital districts and 

designate the state hospitals to which persons with mental illness from each district shall be 

admitted). Travis County provides resources to the other counties within the catchment area by 

conducting mental health cases for individuals for whom the other counties are financially 

responsible. See Request Letter I, supra, at 1. The Travis County Clerk formerly sent a bill of costs 

to the responsible county, but in early 1998 she stopped seeking costs from counties in the catchment 

area other than Travis County, believing that the clerk had no duty to seek the costs. See id. Thus, 

you wish to know whether the clerk has a duty to send out a bill of costs to the other counties. 

The Texas Mental Health Code, codified as subtitle C of title 7, Health and Safety Code, 

provides for access to care and treatment for mentally ill persons. See TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE 

ANN. chs. 571 - 577 (Vernon 1992 & Supp. 2000). Chapter 574 of the Health and Safety Code 

governs proceedings for court-ordered mental health services. A county or district attorney or other 

adult may tile an application for court-ordered mental health services for an individual. See id. 

9 574.001 (Vernon Supp. 2000). All applications for court-ordered mental health services “shall be 

filed on behalf of the State of Texas.” Id. 5 571.0166. The application must be filed with the county 

clerk in the county in which the proposed patient resides, is found, or is receiving mental health 

services by court order or pursuant to apprehension by a police officer under Health and Safety 

Code, chapter 573, subchapter A. See id. 5 574.001(b). A court has personal jurisdiction over an 

individual’s commitment for mental health services, where he is found in the county where the court 

sits. See Goldwait v. State, 961 S.W.2d 432, (Tex. App.-Houston [ 1st Dist.] 1997, no writ); see also 
Ms. Susan A. Spataro, C.P.A., C.M.A. - Page 3 (JC-0222) 

TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. 4 574.03 l(c) (Vernon Supp. 2000) (proposed patient is entitled 

to be present at the hearing, unless he or his attorney waives this right). 

Section 571 ,018 of the Health and Safety Code lists various costs of a hearing or proceeding 

under the Texas Mental Health Code and subsection (a) of that section provides that they shall be 

paid by: 

(1) the county that initiates emergency detention procedures 

under Subchapter A or B, Chapter 573 [temporary detention ofperson 

believed to be mentally ill, where there is a substantial risk of serious 

harm to the person or others]; or 

(2) if no emergency detention procedures are initiated, the 

county that accepts an application for court-ordered mental health 

services, issues an order for protective custody, or issues an order for 

temporary mental health services. 

TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. 5 571.018(a) (Vernon Supp. 2000). 

Pursuant to this provision, the county “that accepts an application for court-ordered mental 

health services, issues an order for protective custody, or issues an order for temporary mental health 

services” is responsible for the costs of the proceeding, including the cost of filing the petition, Tex. 

An’y Gen. Op. No. JC-0102 (1999) at 2. 

Section 571 .018(b) further provides that: 

The county responsible for the costs of a hearing or 

proceeding under Subsection (a) shall pay the costs of all subsequent 

hearings or proceedings for that person under this subtitle until the 

person is discharged from mental health services. The costs shall be 

billed by the clerk of the court conducting the hearings. 

TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. 4 571.018(b) (Vernon Supp. 2000) (emphasis added). The 

italicized language was added by the 76th Legislature. Act of May 28, 1999, 76th Leg., R.S., ch. 

1512, 4 1, 1999 Tex. Gen. Laws 5233,5234. In answer to your first question, section 571.018 now 

expressly requires the clerk of the court to bill the responsible county for the costs of the mental 

health services proceeding. 

As to your second question, you ask whether the costs listed under section 571.018 of the 

Health and Safety Code are court costs and whether the county clerk has a duty to collect such costs. 

This question seeks clarification of the statement in Attorney General Opinion JC-0102 that “the 

reimbursements are not ‘court costs,’ which the county clerk as clerk of the probate court may 

otherwise have a duty to collect from the responsible county.” Tex. Att’y Gen. Op. No. JC-0102 
Ms. Susan A. Spataro, C.P.A., C.M.A. - Page 4 (JC-0222) 

(1999) at 3. This statement reflects the premise of Attorney General Opinion JC-0102 that Travis 

County had already paid the court costs and was seeking reimbursement for expenditures. It does 

not address court costs that have never been paid. 

The costs of a mental health services proceeding payable by the responsible county include 

those enumerated in section 571.018(c) of the Health and Safety Code: 

(1) attorney’s fees; 

(2) physician examination fees; 

(3) compensation for court-appointed personnel listed under 

Section 571.017 [court shall order payment of reasonable 

compensation to attorneys, physicians, language interpreters, sign 

interpreters, and masters]; 

(4) expenses of transportation to a mental health facility or to 

a federal agency not to exceed $50 if transporting within the same 

county and not to exceed the reasonable cost of transportation if 

transporting between counties; 

(5) costs and salary supplements authorized under Sections 

574.03 l(i) and (j) [for a judge who holds hearings at locations other 

than county courthouse]; and 

(6) prosecutor’s fees authorized under Section 574.031(k). 

TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. $571.018(c) (V emon Supp. 2000); see also id. 5 574.010(b) 

(Vernon 1992) (if proposed patient is indigent, court may order county of residence to pay expenses 

of expert testimony). 

It is not necessary to determine whether the various costs listed under section 57 1 ,018 of the 

Health & Safety Code are “court costs” subject to being collected by the county clerk, because the 

provision expressly states that these costs “shall be billed by the clerk of the court conducting the 

hearings.” Id. $ 571 .018(b) (Vernon Supp. 2000). In answer to your second question, we conclude 

that the county clerk has a duty to collect from the responsible county the costs listed under section 

571.018 of the Health and Safety Code. See id. 5 571.018(b); TEX. R. CIV. P. 129, 130 (clerk’s 

duties if responsible party fails to pay costs). 
Ms. Susan A. Spataro, C.P.A., C.M.A. - Page 5 (JC-0222) 

SUMMARY 

Attorney General Opinion JC-0 102 (1999) was based on the 

understanding that Travis County had paid the costs taxed in certain 

mental health services proceedings conducted in the county where 

another county was responsible for paying the costs. Its conclusions 

as to the clerk’s duty to seek reimbursement of those costs from the 

other county must be read in connection with that premise. 

Section 57 1 .018(b) of the Health and Safety Code requires the 

clerk ofthe court in which a mental health services proceeding is held 

to bill the costs of the proceeding to the county that is responsible for 

paying those costs. The county clerk has a duty to collect from the 

responsible county the costs listed under section 571.018 of the 

Health and Safety Code. 

Attorney General of Texas 

ANDY TAYLOR 

First Assistant Attorney Genera1 

CLARK KENT ERWIN 

Deputy Attorney Genera1 - General Counsel 

ELIZABETH ROBINSON 

Chair, Opinion Committee 

Susan L. Garrison 

Assistant Attorney General - Opinion Committee