Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0757 Page: 2 of 3
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The Honorable John Mark Cobern - Page 2
(c) The fee for an action involving mental health or chemical
dependency services is for the services listed in Sections 571.016,
571.017, 571.018, and 574.008(c), Health and Safety Code, or
services under Subchapter C or D, Chapter 462, Health and Safety
Code. The fees shall be paid by the person executing the application
for mental health or chemical dependency services and are due at the
time the application is filed if the services requested relate to services
provided or to be provided in a private facility. If the services
requested relate to services provided or to be provided in a mental
health facility of the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental
Retardation or the federal government, the county clerk may collect
the fees only in accordance with Section 571.018(h), Health and
Safety Code.
TEX. Loc. GOV'T CODE ANN. 118.055(c) (Vernon 2008) (footnote omitted and emphasis added).
You tell us the TRMC, which is operated by the District, is not a mental health facility of the
Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation or the federal government. See generally Titus
County Brief. The question before us is thus whether the BHU, as part of the TRMC, is a "private
facility."
The term "private facility" is not defined in section 118.055 of the Local Government Code,
nor in any other Texas statute of which we are aware. However, the common meaning of the word
"private" is well understood. One dictionary defines the term "private" in the context of section
118.055 as "[b]elonging to a particular person or persons, as opposed to the public or the
government[;] ... [o]f, relating to, or derived from nongovernment sources[; and] ... [c]onducted
and supported primarily by individuals or groups not affiliated with governmental agencies or
corporations: a private college [or] a private sanatorium." AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY 1396
(4th ed. 2000). Another dictionary defines the word "private" to mean "of or relating to a system
of education or medical treatment conducted outside the system of government." OXFORD
AMERICAN DICTIONARY 1356 (1 st ed. 2001). These common definitions indicate then that a "private
facility" is one that is operated by an agency or institution that is not affiliated with any governmental
body.
As we have indicated, the BHU is a part of the TRMC, which is operated by the Titus County
Hospital District, a political subdivision of the state. As such, a court would probably conclude that
neither the BHU nor the TRMC may properly be denominated a "private facility."(GA-0757)
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0757, text, February 3, 2010; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth275653/m1/2/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.