By: Moncrief S.B. No. 28
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to procedural and fire safety requirements relating to
1-2 long-term care facilities licensed by the Texas Department of
1-3 Health.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 242.039, Health and Safety Code, is
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 242.039. FIRE SAFETY REQUIREMENTS. The board shall
1-8 adopt rules necessary to specify the edition of the Life Safety
1-9 Code of the National Fire Protection Association applicable to all
1-10 institutions licensed under this chapter. The board shall utilize
1-11 pertinent federal law and regulations, state law and rules, and
1-12 standards of fire safety from the National Fire Protection
1-13 Association in establishing these rules. The rules may not prevent
1-14 an institution licensed under this chapter from voluntarily
1-15 conforming to fire safety standards that are higher than those
1-16 adopted by the board or from voluntarily conforming to additional
1-17 fire safety standards that are compatible with, equal to, or more
1-18 stringent than those adopted by the board. <(a) An institution
1-19 licensed under this chapter shall comply with the 1985 edition of
1-20 the Code for Safety to Life from Fire in Buildings and Structures,
1-21 known as the Life Safety Code (Pamphlet No. 101) of the National
1-22 Fire Protection Association. The department shall determine which
1-23 occupancy chapter of that code is applicable to an institution
2-1 other than a nursing home or custodial care home.>
2-2 <(b) A nursing home or custodial care home or a portion of
2-3 a home that was operating or approved for construction before
2-4 September 1, 1987, must comply with the Life Safety Code provisions
2-5 relating to existing construction.>
2-6 <(c) A nursing home or custodial care home or a portion of a
2-7 home that is operating or approved for construction on or after
2-8 September 1, 1987, must comply with the Life Safety Code provisions
2-9 relating to new construction.>
2-10 <(d) This section does not preclude an institution from
2-11 conforming to a higher or additional fire safety standard or
2-12 provision.>
2-13 SECTION 2. Section 242.094, Health and Safety Code, is
2-14 amended by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
2-15 (e) Venue for actions brought under this section shall be in
2-16 Travis County.
2-17 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
2-18 SECTION 4. 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.