By Berlanga                                            H.B. No. 877
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the possession of dangerous drugs by certain persons.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 142, Health and Safety
    1-5  Code, is amended by adding Section 142.0061 to read as follows:
    1-6        Sec. 142.0061.  POSSESSION OF DANGEROUS DRUG.  A home health
    1-7  agency or its employees who are registered nurses or licensed
    1-8  vocational nurses may purchase, store, or transport for the purpose
    1-9  of administering to their home health patients under physician's
   1-10  orders the following dangerous drugs:  sterile water for injection
   1-11  and irrigation, sterile saline for injection and irrigation, and
   1-12  heparin flush kits for intravenous flushes.
   1-13        SECTION 2.  Subsection (c), Section 483.041, Health and
   1-14  Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
   1-15        (c)  Subsection (a) does not apply to the possession of a
   1-16  dangerous drug in the usual course of business or practice or in
   1-17  the performance of official duties by the following persons or an
   1-18  agent or employee of the person:
   1-19              (1)  a pharmacy licensed<, drug store, dispensary,
   1-20  apothecary shop, or prescription laboratory registered> by the
   1-21  board;
   1-22              (2)  a practitioner;
   1-23              (3)  a person who obtains a dangerous drug for lawful
    2-1  research, teaching, or testing, but not for resale;
    2-2              (4)  a hospital that obtains a dangerous drug for
    2-3  lawful administration by a practitioner;
    2-4              (5)  an officer or employee of the federal, state, or
    2-5  local government;
    2-6              (6)  a manufacturer or wholesaler licensed by
    2-7  <registered with> the commissioner of health under Chapter 431
    2-8  (Texas Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act); <or>
    2-9              (7)  a carrier or warehouseman; or
   2-10              (8)  a home health agency licensed under Chapter 142,
   2-11  which may possess sterile water for injection and irrigation,
   2-12  sterile saline for injection and irrigation, and heparin flush kits
   2-13  for intravenous flushes, as authorized by Section 142.0061.
   2-14        SECTION 3.  Subsection (f), Section 19, Texas Pharmacy Act
   2-15  (Article 4542a-1, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to
   2-16  read as follows:
   2-17        (f)  This Act does not apply to:
   2-18              (1)  a member of the faculty of a college of pharmacy
   2-19  that is recognized by the board if the faculty member is a licensed
   2-20  pharmacist and performs his services for the benefit of the college
   2-21  only;
   2-22              (2)  a pharmacist-intern; <or>
   2-23              (3)  a person who procures prescription drugs for
   2-24  lawful research, teaching, or testing and not for resale; or
   2-25              (4)  a home health agency possessing dangerous drugs as
    3-1  authorized by Section 142.0061, Health and Safety Code.
    3-2        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-3  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-4  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-5  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-6  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    3-7  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    3-8  passage, and it is so enacted.