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.