BILL ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 2383 By: McDonald (Armbrister) State Affairs 5-23-95 Senate Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND The Texas Department of Health currently monitors the charges levied by counties and local public health districts. In some municipalities, excessive food service permit fees and multiple fines have transformed the local health departments into revenue generators. The revenue generated is more than necessary for the regulation of food service in some cases, and is allocated to unrelated municipal expenses. Local health authorities, pressed by municipalities to generate excess revenue, lose sight of their function as protectors of the public health. Some restaurants, overcharged and fearful of the local health authority, have an adversarial relationship with them. PURPOSE As proposed, C.S.H.B. 2383 amends the procedures of fees and enforcement of regulations of retail food stores, food service establishments, mobile food units and roadside food vendors. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 437.012(b), Health and Safety Code, to delete the provision that the fee charged by a county or public health district for issuing or renewing a permit may not exceed the highest fee charged by a municipality in the county or public health district. SECTION 2. Amends Chapter 437, Health and Safety Code, by adding Section 437.019, as follows: Sec. 437.019. ENFORCEMENT OF REGULATIONS APPLYING TO RETAIL FOOD STORES, FOOD SERVICE ESTABLISHMENTS, MOBILE FOOD UNITS, OR ROADSIDE FOOD VENDORS. (a) Provides that no municipality, county, or public health district may penalize a person required to obtain a permit for retailing or serving food by levying fines or penalties in excess of similarly situated municipalities, counties, or public health districts. (b) Authorizes a person or a class of persons to bring a suit to enjoin a practice prohibited by this section and to recover fines found by the court to have been excessive or confiscatory in nature and reasonable attorney's fees and court costs. SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 1995. SECTION 4. Emergency clause.