By:  Madla                                             S.B. No. 310
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the possession of dangerous drugs by certain persons.
    1-2        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-3        SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 142, Health and Safety
    1-4  Code, is amended by adding Section 142.0061 to read as follows:
    1-5        Sec. 142.0061.  POSSESSION OF DANGEROUS DRUG.  A home health
    1-6  agency or its employees who are registered nurses or licensed
    1-7  vocational nurses may purchase, store, or transport for the purpose
    1-8  of administering to their home health patients under physician's
    1-9  orders the following dangerous drugs:  sterile water for injection
   1-10  and irrigation, sterile saline for injection and irrigation, and
   1-11  heparin flush kits for intravenous flushes.
   1-12        SECTION 2.  Subsection (c), Section 483.041, Health and
   1-13  Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
   1-14        (c)  Subsection (a) does not apply to the possession of a
   1-15  dangerous drug in the usual course of business or practice or in
   1-16  the performance of official duties by the following persons or an
   1-17  agent or employee of the person:
   1-18              (1)  a pharmacy licensed<, drug store, dispensary,
   1-19  apothecary shop, or prescription laboratory registered> by the
   1-20  board;
   1-21              (2)  a practitioner;
   1-22              (3)  a person who obtains a dangerous drug for lawful
   1-23  research, teaching, or testing, but not for resale;
    2-1              (4)  a hospital that obtains a dangerous drug for
    2-2  lawful administration by a practitioner;
    2-3              (5)  an officer or employee of the federal, state, or
    2-4  local government;
    2-5              (6)  a manufacturer or wholesaler licensed by
    2-6  <registered with> the commissioner of health under Chapter 431
    2-7  (Texas Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act); <or>
    2-8              (7)  a carrier or warehouseman; or
    2-9              (8)  a home health agency licensed under Chapter 142,
   2-10  which may possess sterile water for injection and irrigation,
   2-11  sterile saline for injection and irrigation, and heparin flush kits
   2-12  for intravenous flushes, as authorized by Section 142.0061.
   2-13        SECTION 3.  Subsection (f), Section 19, Texas Pharmacy Act
   2-14  (Article 4542a-1, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to
   2-15  read as follows:
   2-16        (f)  This Act does not apply to:
   2-17              (1)  a member of the faculty of a college of pharmacy
   2-18  that is recognized by the board if the faculty member is a licensed
   2-19  pharmacist and performs his services for the benefit of the college
   2-20  only;
   2-21              (2)  a pharmacist-intern; <or>
   2-22              (3)  a person who procures prescription drugs for
   2-23  lawful research, teaching, or testing and not for resale; or
   2-24              (4)  a home health agency possessing dangerous drugs as
   2-25  authorized by Section 142.0061, Health and Safety Code.
    3-1        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-2  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-3  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-4  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-5  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    3-6  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    3-7  passage, and it is so enacted.