By Vowell                                             H.B. No. 2109
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the schedule of fees adopted by the Texas Commission
    1-3  for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired to be paid to interpreters for
    1-4  persons who are deaf or hearing impaired.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Sections 81.006(a) and (c), Human Resources Code,
    1-7  are amended to read as follows:
    1-8        (a)  The commission shall:
    1-9              (1)  develop and implement a statewide program of
   1-10  advocacy and education to ensure continuity of services to the
   1-11  deaf;
   1-12              (2)  provide direct services to the deaf, including
   1-13  interpreter services, information and referral services, message
   1-14  relay services, advocacy services, services to elderly deaf and
   1-15  hearing impaired, training in basic life skills and job-seeking
   1-16  skills, and individual and family counseling;
   1-17              (3)  work to ensure more effective coordination and
   1-18  cooperation among public and nonprofit organizations providing
   1-19  social and educational services to deaf individuals;
   1-20              (4)  establish a registry of available interpreters for
   1-21  the deaf and a catalogue of resources available for the needs of
   1-22  the deaf, both of which it shall disseminate to interested people
   1-23  and update annually;
   1-24              (5)  establish a system to approve courses and
    2-1  workshops for the instruction and continuing education of
    2-2  interpreters for the deaf; and
    2-3              (6)  annually review the schedule of fees recommended
    2-4  by the commission for the payment of interpreters and, as a result
    2-5  of the findings of the review and other relevant information, adopt
    2-6  by rule a schedule of reasonable hourly fees to be paid to
    2-7  interpreters with varied levels of skill.
    2-8        (c)  The schedule of fees adopted under Subsection (a)(6)
    2-9  shall be adopted <of this section must be made available and
   2-10  recommended for adoption> by other state agencies.  If the
   2-11  commission determines by rule that certificates issued to
   2-12  interpreters by different entities represent equivalent skill
   2-13  levels, the fees recommended for the payment of interpreters
   2-14  holding those certificates must be equivalent.   On request, the
   2-15  commission shall send a copy of the fee schedule to a governmental
   2-16  entity.
   2-17        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   2-18        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-19  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-20  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-21  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-22  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.