By:  Madla                                             S.B. No. 144
       73R150 JMM-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the authority of a therapeutic optometrist to act as a
    1-3  practitioner under the Texas Controlled Substances Act.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 481.002(39), Health and Safety Code, is
    1-6  amended to read as follows:
    1-7              (39)  "Practitioner" means:
    1-8                    (A)  a physician, dentist, veterinarian,
    1-9  podiatrist, scientific investigator, therapeutic optometrist, or
   1-10  other person licensed, registered, or otherwise permitted to
   1-11  distribute, dispense, analyze, conduct research with respect to, or
   1-12  administer a controlled substance in the course of professional
   1-13  practice or research in this state;
   1-14                    (B)  a pharmacy, hospital, or other institution
   1-15  licensed, registered, or otherwise permitted to distribute,
   1-16  dispense, conduct research with respect to, or administer a
   1-17  controlled substance in the course of professional practice or
   1-18  research in this state; or
   1-19                    (C)  a person practicing in and licensed by
   1-20  another state as a physician, dentist, veterinarian, or podiatrist,
   1-21  having a current Federal Drug Enforcement Administration
   1-22  registration number, who may legally prescribe Schedule II, III,
   1-23  IV, or V controlled substances in that state.
   1-24        SECTION 2.  Section 481.074, Health and Safety Code, is
    2-1  amended by adding Subsection (j) to read as follows:
    2-2        (j)  A pharmacist requested to dispense a controlled
    2-3  substance under a prescription issued by a therapeutic optometrist
    2-4  shall determine, through the exercise of the pharmacist's
    2-5  professional judgment, whether the prescription is for a controlled
    2-6  substance that a therapeutic optometrist is authorized to prescribe
    2-7  under Section 1.03, Texas Optometry Act (Article 4552-1.01 et seq.,
    2-8  Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
    2-9        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   2-10        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-11  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-12  emergency   and   an   imperative   public   necessity   that   the
   2-13  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-14  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.