TITLE 37 MENTAL HEALTH

Section 2. Administration of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, Addictive Diseases, and Other Disability Services, 37-2-1 through 37-2-50.

ARTICLE 1 GENERAL PROVISIONS

37-2-1. Declaration of purpose.

The State of Georgia recognizes its responsibility for its citizens who are mentally ill or developmentally disabled including individuals with epilepsy, cerebral palsy, autism, and other neurologically disabling conditions or who abuse alcohol, narcotics, or other drugs and recognizes an obligation to such citizens to meet their needs through a coordinated system of community facilities, programs, and services.
It is the policy of this state to provide adequate mental health, developmental disability, addictive disease, and other disability services to all its citizens. It is further the policy of this state to provide such services through a unified system which encourages cooperation and sharing of resources among all providers of such services, both governmental and private.
It is the purpose of this chapter to enable and encourage the development of comprehensive, preventive, early detection, habilitative, rehabilitative, and treatment disability services; to improve and expand community programs for the disabled; to provide continuity of care through integration of county, area, regional, and state services and facilities for the disabled; to provide for joint disability services and the sharing of manpower and other resources; and to monitor and restructure the system of providing disability services in the State of Georgia to make better use of the combined public and private resources of the state and local communities.
The provisions of this chapter shall be liberally construed to achieve the objectives set forth in this Code section.

(Code 1933, § 88-601, enacted by Ga. L. 1976, p. 953, § 1; Ga. L. 1986, p. 1213, § 1; Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, § 16; Ga. L. 1995, p. 1302, § 17; Ga. L. 2002, p. 1324, § 1-7; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 3-1/HB 228.)

Cross references.

- Special education services for children who are physically, mentally, or emotionally disabled, § 20-2-152.

State health planning and development generally, T. 31, C. 6.

Coverage for autism, § 33-24-59.10.

Code Commission notes.

- Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1993, "the" was deleted following "encourage the" near the beginning of subsection (c).

Editor's notes.

- Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, § 18.1, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "Nothing in this Act shall be construed to repeal any provision of Chapter 5 of Title 37 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, the 'Community Services Act for the Mentally Retarded.' "

Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, § 19, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "This Act shall become effective on July 1, 1994; provided, however, that provisions relating to the establishment of regional and community service board boundaries and the appointments of regional boards and community service boards shall become effective on July 1, 1993, or upon whatever date is stipulated in the Act and provided, further, that the provisions authorizing a county board of health to agree to serve as the lead county board of health for only that county shall become effective upon the approval of this Act by the Governor or upon its becoming law without such approval." The Act was approved by the Governor on April 27, 1993.

Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, which amends this Code section, provides, in § 19.1, not codified by the General Assembly, that the amendment is repealed on June 30, 1999; however, Ga. L. 1998, p. 870, § 1, struck § 19.1 of Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, which would have repealed the 1993 amendment to this Code section.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Community service boards.

- Limited sovereign immunity waiver was subject to a specific exception for assault or battery, and in determining whether this exception applied, it was not necessary that the act have been committed by a state officer or employee. A community service board was a state agency and was immune from a claim arising from the stabbing death of a resident at a community home run by the board. Limited sovereign immunity waiver in the Georgia Tort Claims Act, O.C.G.A. § 50-21-20 et seq., was subject to a specific exception for assault or battery, and in determining whether this exception applied, it was not necessary that the act have been committed by a state officer or employee; a community service board was a state agency, and was immune from a claim arising from the stabbing death of a resident at a community home run by the community service board. Oconee Cmty. Serv. Bd. v. Holsey, 266 Ga. App. 385, 597 S.E.2d 489 (2004).

Legislature did not intend for community service boards to be part of the Department of Human Resources (DHR) (now known as the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities for these purposes) or its employees to be department employees under ordinary circumstances; thus, a suit claiming that DHR was liable for the alleged negligence of a board employee should have been dismissed. Dep't of Human Res. v. Crews, 278 Ga. App. 56, 628 S.E.2d 191 (2006).

Cited in Lewis v. Griffin, 258 Ga. 887, 376 S.E.2d 364 (1989); Youngblood v. Gwinnett Rockdale Newton Cmty. Serv. Bd., 273 Ga. 715, 545 S.E.2d 875 (2001); Summerlin v. Ga. Pines Cmty. Serv. Bd., 278 Ga. App. 831, 630 S.E.2d 115 (2006).

Cases Citing O.C.G.A. § 37-2-1

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Youngblood v. Gwinnett Rockdale Newton Cmty. Serv. Bd., 545 S.E.2d 875 (Ga. 2001).

Cited 92 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Apr 12, 2001 | 273 Ga. 715, 2001 Fulton County D. Rep. 1743

...this action against the GRNCSB alleging breach of contract and negligence. [1] The GRNCSB filed a motion for summary judgment which the trial court granted, finding that the GRNCSB is protected by the doctrine of sovereign immunity pursuant to OCGA § 37-2-11.1(c)(1) and there was no enforceable written contract between Patricia Youngblood and the GRNCSB. Youngblood appeals and for the reasons that follow, we affirm in part and reverse in part. 1. The trial court rejected Youngblood's constitutional challenge to OCGA § 37-2-11.1(c)(1) and held that the GRNCSB is protected by sovereign immunity to the same extent as a county. OCGA § 37-2-11.1(c)(1) provides, in pertinent part: The community service boards shall be public bodies, but shall not be considered agencies of the state, or any specific county or municipality. Such community service boards are public agencies in their own right and shall have the same immunity as provided for counties. Youngblood contends that despite the contrary language of OCGA § 37-2-11.1(c)(1), community service boards are departments or agencies of the State and, therefore, OCGA § 37-2-11.1(c)(1) unconstitutionally expands the immunity to which the State is entitled under Article I, Section II, Paragraph IX of the Georgia Constitution of 1983....

...ate. Community service boards were created by the General Assembly as "public agencies" to govern publicly funded programs which provide mental health, mental retardation, substance abuse, and other disability services. OCGA § 37-2-6(a). See OCGA §§ 37-2-1(a), (b), 37-2-11(a). The boards were established on a multi-county level to provide, inter alia, "continuity of care through integration of county, area, regional, and state services and facilities for the disabled." OCGA § 37-2-1(c)....

...Pursuant to this constitutional mandate, the Legislature enacted the Georgia Tort Claims Act which it chose to make applicable to all State agencies and departments. OCGA § 50-21-22(5), (6). We have found that community service boards like the GRNCSB created by the Legislature pursuant to OCGA § 37-2-1 et seq. are agencies or departments of the State. See Division 1, supra. Accordingly, the Legislature acted unconstitutionally when it ignored Art. I, Sec. II, Par. IX (e) and the express terms of the Georgia Tort Claims Act by enacting OCGA § 37-2-11.1(c)(1) so as to denominate these newly-created State agencies or departments as unclassified public entities to be accorded the same immunity as counties. 3. Although not entitled to statutory immunity pursuant to OCGA § 37-2-11.1(c)(1), as a unit of State government the GRNCSB is entitled to the protection of sovereign immunity to the extent it has not been waived....

...All the Justices concur, except FLETCHER, P.J., who concurs in Divisions 1, 3 and 4 and the judgment and CARLEY, J., who concurs specially. CARLEY, Justice, concurring specially I concur in Divisions 1, 3, 4, and in the judgment. However, I cannot join the holding of Division 2 that OCGA § 37-2-11.1(c)(1) is unconstitutional....

...The majority apparently concludes that the waiver of immunity in that statute is not sufficiently specific. To the contrary, the statute specifically provides that community service boards "shall have the same immunity as provided for counties." OCGA § 37-2-11.1(c)(1)....

...Walton County Water & Sewerage Authority, 271 *879 Ga. 192, 193(1), 515 S.E.2d 617 (1999). See also Athens-Clarke County v. Torres, 246 Ga.App. 215, 217(2), 540 S.E.2d 225 (2000). Henderman clearly controls this case and, in my opinion, requires the conclusion that OCGA § 37-2-11.1(c)(1) is constitutional....