2023 New York Laws › MHY - Mental Hygiene › Title E - General Provisions › Article 67 - Interstate Relations › 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.