J. MILLARD TAWES, Governor                       173

TITLE "LUNATICS AND INSANE," SUBTITLE "LUNATIC OR
INSANE PAUPERS," TO FOLLOW IMMEDIATELY AFTER
SECTION 5 (A) THEREOF TO ADD NEW SECTIONS 601 (E-l)
AND 601 (E-2) TO SAID ARTICLE AND SUBTITLE (1957 EDI-
TION AND 1962 SUPPLEMENT); that Section 44 of Article 59 of
said Code (1962 Supplement), title "Lunatics and Insane," subtitle
"Department of Mental Hygiene," be and it is hereby repealed and
re-enacted, with amendments; and all to read as follows:

Article 43
601.

(c) If as a result of such investigation, the collection unit shall
determine that such person, his or her relatives, or other persons
shall be required to pay for his or her care or a part thereof, it shall
specify the amount of such payments to be made, which shall not
exceed the average per diem cost of maintaining a patient in such
hospital, and the times when the same are to be made. Such average
per diem cost shall be determined annually by the State Comptroller
and the State Budget Director between September 1 and December 1.
The collection unit is authorized to set the rate of payments retro-
actively to become effective as of the date of admission to the hospital
or as of the date of beginning the investigations of the financial con-
dition of the patient and of other persons legally chargeable for his
maintenance and support, whichever is the later date; but the effec-
tive date may not be set more than six months prior to the date of
the order unless there has been a failure on the part of the patient's
guardian or committee or other persons legally chargeable with his
maintenance and support, to file the financial reports or statements
required by the collection unit. The collection unit shall have the
power to require the relatives of any such person or others legally
chargeable with his or her care, to enter into appropriate and binding
agreements with respect to the making of such payments, and may
from time to time modify or change the terms thereof, as the cir-
cumstances may justify. In arriving at the amount to be paid, the
collection unit shall have due regard for the financial means or abil-
ities of the patient, or the person or persons legally responsible for
the patient's maintenance and support, and whenever deemed neces-
sary, may agree to accept a periodic sum for the patient's mainte-
nance less than the per capita cost. Upon failure of a patient or other
legally responsible person to make payment or enter into an agree-
ment to make payment, the collection unit shall notify the Attorney
General and he shall institute proceedings on behalf of the unit for
collection thereof with authority to make adjustment or settlements
of said claims as he feels to be in the best interest of the State.

(c-1) It is the intent of this sub-title that a husband may be liable
for the support of a wife while she is an inmate of any such hospital;
a wife, for a husband; a father or mother, or both, for a son or daugh-
ter; and a son or daughter, or both, for a father or mother. However,
no liability under this subtitle shall be placed upon any son or daugh-
ter for the support of a father or mother by whom the son or daugh-
ter was abandoned; and no liability under this subtitle shall be placed
upon any husband or wife for the support of a spouse by whom the
husband or wife has been abandoned. The State Board of Health
and Mental Hygiene shall promulgate rules and regulations pursuant
to the Administrative Procedures Act in Article 41 of this Code, pro-