SENATE BILL 188

52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2015

INTRODUCED BY

Sue Wilson Beffort

AN ACT

RELATING TO CHILDREN; REVISING DEFINITIONS IN THE PUBLIC HEALTH ACT TO INCLUDE CERTAIN RESIDENTIAL PLACEMENTS FOR CHILDREN; DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. Section 24-1-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1973, Chapter 359, Section 2, as amended by Laws 2007, Chapter 325, Section 6 and by Laws 2007, Chapter 326, Section 1) is amended to read:

     "24-1-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Public Health Act:

          A. "department" or "division" means:

                (1) the children, youth and families department [as to child care centers, residential treatment centers that serve persons up to twenty-one years of age, community mental health centers that serve only persons up to twenty-one years of age, day treatment centers that serve persons up to twenty-one years of age, shelter care homes and those outpatient facilities that are also community-based behavioral health facilities serving only persons up to twenty-one years of age and] or a division within that department when reference is made to:

                     (a) child care centers;

                     (b) residential treatment centers that serve persons up to twenty-one years of age;

                     (c) community mental health centers that serve only persons up to twenty-one years of age;

                     (d) day treatment centers that serve persons up to twenty-one years of age;

                     (e) shelter care homes;

                     (f) those outpatient facilities that are also community-based behavioral health facilities serving only persons up to twenty-one years of age; and

                     (g) wilderness youth programs; or

                (2) the department of health [as] or a division within that department when reference is made to all other health facilities, unless otherwise designated;

          B. "director" means the secretary;

          C. "person", when used without further qualification, means an individual or any other form of entity recognized by law;

          D. "health facility" means a public hospital, profit or nonprofit private hospital, general or special hospital, outpatient facility, maternity home or shelter, adult daycare facility, nursing home, intermediate care facility, boarding home not under the control of an institution of higher learning, child care center, shelter care home, diagnostic and treatment center, rehabilitation center, infirmary, community mental health center that serves both children and adults or adults only, residential treatment center that serves persons up to twenty-one years of age, community mental health center that serves only persons up to twenty-one years of age, [and] day treatment center that serves persons up to twenty-one years of age, [or a] health service organization operating as a freestanding hospice or a home health agency or a wilderness youth program. The designation of these entities as health facilities is only for the purposes of definition in the Public Health Act and does not imply that a freestanding hospice or a home health agency is considered a health facility for the purposes of other provisions of state or federal laws. "Health facility" also includes those facilities that, by federal regulation, must be licensed by the state to obtain or maintain full or partial, permanent or temporary federal funding. [It] "Health facility" does not include the offices and treatment rooms of licensed private practitioners; [and]

          E. "secretary" means:

                (1) the secretary of children, youth and families [as] when reference is made to child care centers, residential treatment centers that serve persons up to twenty-one years of age, community mental health centers that serve only persons up to twenty-one years of age, day treatment centers that serve persons up to twenty-one years of age, shelter care homes, [and] those outpatient facilities that are also community-based behavioral health facilities serving only persons up to twenty-one years of age and wilderness youth programs; or

                (2) the secretary of health [as] when reference is made to all other health facilities; and

          F. "wilderness youth program":

                (1) means a business or organization that provides residence to and accepts custody, care or control, including temporary guardianship, of a child for the purposes of behavior modification, and that:

                     (a) charges a fee or accepts donations or scholarships for its services;

                     (b) limits or censors communications between a child and the child's parent or guardian; or

                     (c) restricts a child's ability to leave the program by the child's choice; and

                (2) does not include:

                     (a) seasonal programs with a primary purpose of recreation;

                     (b) programs that are approved by the department and that have national accreditation that ensures the health, safety or welfare of children;

                     (c) programs that are otherwise governed by specific state law; or

                     (d) programs that are defined by the constitution of New Mexico as state educational institutions."

     SECTION 2. EMERGENCY.--It is necessary for the public peace, health and safety that this act take effect immediately.

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