By Corte                                               H.B. No. 165
       74R819 DLF-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to liability for the donation of drugs and medical devices
    1-3  to certain nonprofit organizations.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Title 4, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
    1-6  amended by adding Chapter 88 to read as follows:
    1-7          CHAPTER 88.  DONATION OF DRUGS AND MEDICAL DEVICES
    1-8        Sec. 88.001.  DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:
    1-9              (1)  "Device" and "drug" have the meaning assigned by
   1-10  Section 431.002, Health and Safety Code.
   1-11              (2)  "Donate" means to give without requiring anything
   1-12  of monetary value from the recipient.
   1-13              (3)  "Nonprofit health care organization" means:
   1-14                    (A)  an organization that is exempt from federal
   1-15  income tax under Section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of
   1-16  1986 (26 U.S.C. Section 501) by being listed as an exempt
   1-17  organization in Section 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) of that code and
   1-18  that is organized and operated for the purpose of providing free or
   1-19  reduced cost health care; or
   1-20                    (B)  a bona fide charitable organization that is
   1-21  organized and operated for the purpose of providing free or reduced
   1-22  cost health care, that dedicates its assets to charitable purposes,
   1-23  and that does not provide net earnings to, or operate in a manner
   1-24  that inures to the benefit of, an officer, employee, or shareholder
    2-1  of the organization.
    2-2        Sec. 88.002.  LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES FROM DONATED DRUG OR
    2-3  DEVICE.  A person  is not liable for personal injury, property
    2-4  damage, or death resulting from the nature, age, packaging, or
    2-5  condition of a drug or device that the person donates in good faith
    2-6  to a nonprofit health care organization for use in providing free
    2-7  or reduced cost health care.
    2-8        Sec. 88.003.  EXCEPTION.  This chapter does not apply to a
    2-9  person who donates a drug or device:
   2-10              (1)  knowing that use of the drug or device would be
   2-11  harmful to the health or well-being of another person; or
   2-12              (2)  with actual conscious indifference to the health
   2-13  or well-being of another person.
   2-14        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
   2-15  applies to a cause of action that accrues on or after that date.
   2-16  An action that accrued before the effective date of this Act is
   2-17  governed by the law in effect at the time the action accrued, and
   2-18  that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
   2-19        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-20  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-21  emergency   and   an   imperative   public   necessity   that   the
   2-22  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-23  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.