Pennsylvania Act 1931-324 — WESTERN STATE PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE AND CLINIC

Act text

WESTERN STATE PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE AND CLINIC
                 Act of Jun. 23, 1931, P.L. 1199, No. 324             Cl. 50
                                  AN ACT

     For the acceptance of a site from the University of Pittsburgh,
        and for surveys and the preparation of preliminary plans and
        estimates for a Western State Psychiatric Hospital; providing
        for the erection, construction, and equipment of said
        hospital when appropriations are made available, and for its
        management by the Department of Welfare.
        Section 1.  Be it enacted, &c., That the Department of
     Property and Supplies hereby authorized to acquire in the name
     of the Commonwealth, by gift from the University of Pittsburgh,
     a suitable site for a Western State Psychiatric Institute and
     Clinic on the campus of or in the neighborhood of the University
     of Pittsburgh.
        The said department shall, upon the acquisition of said site,
     proceed with preliminary surveys, plans and estimates for the
     construction and equipment of a Western State Psychiatric
     Institute and Clinic, and for the improvement of the grounds
     connected therewith, in the manner provided by the
     Administrative Code of 1929. Such plans shall be subject to
     approval by the Department of Welfare. The cost of such
     preliminary surveys, plans and estimates shall be payable out of
     current maintenance funds of the Department of Property and
     Supplies, but shall not exceed the sum of twenty-five thousand
     dollars ($25.000).
        (1 amended Apr. 17, 1945, P.L.246, No.109)
        Section 2.  The Department of Property and Supplies shall
     proceed, as soon as funds are made available therefor by
     appropriation, with the erection, construction and equipment of
     said Western State Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, which shall
     be sufficient to accommodate at least one hundred and fifty
     psychiatric patients and at least two hundred daily visits of
     psychiatric out-patients.
        Upon the completion of said hospital, it shall be turned over
     to the Department of Welfare for management and the care,
     maintenance and treatment of psychiatric patients selected by
     the Department of Welfare, and for research and the training of
     medical and other personnel in mental diseases, mental defects
     and their complications. The superintendent of such hospital
     shall at all times be a physician of experience in the treatment
     of mental disease and mental defect.
        (2 amended Apr. 17, 1945, P.L.246, No.109)
        Section 3.  In lieu of procedure by the Department of
     Property and Supplies for obtaining and paying for preliminary
     surveys, plans, and estimates for the construction of the said
     hospital, and the improvement of the grounds connected
     therewith, and for the erection and financing of the erection of
     the same, the Secretary of Property and Supplies may convey the
     tract, so acquired, in fee to the General State Authority, and
     in such case, the Department of Property and Supplies, upon the
     undertaking by the General State Authority of the construction
     of a building or buildings for the said hospital, may enter into
     a contract to lease, as lessee, and, upon completion by the
     Authority of such construction, shall enter into a lease, as
     lessee, of the same for a period of not exceeding thirty (30)
     years, at an annual rental to be fixed and determined by the
     Authority, and, upon the commencement of the term of the said
     lease, the Department of Property and Supplies shall turn over
     the said hospital to the Department of Welfare for management,
     and for the care, maintenance, and treatment of psychiatric
     patients, pursuant to the intent of the act hereby amended.
        (3 added June 21, 1937, P.L.1947, No.377)
        Section 4.  All patients who are classified as private or
     full-pay patients, transferred from the State-owned mental
     hospitals to the Western State Psychiatric Institute and Clinic,
     shall pay only the per capita cost of maintenance which they
     paid at the hospital from which transferred or which applies to
     the hospital serving the district in which such patients have a
     legal residence.
        (4 amended Apr. 17, 1945, P.L.246, No.109)