By Sadler                                             H.B. No. 1499
       74R3927 CAG-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the licensing of certain physicians who are certified
    1-3  by a medical specialty board.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 3.04, Medical Practice Act (Article
    1-6  4495b, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by amending
    1-7  Subsections (a) and (d) and adding Subsection (f) to read as
    1-8  follows:
    1-9        (a)  An applicant, to be eligible for the examination and
   1-10  issuance of a license, must present satisfactory proof to the board
   1-11  that the applicant:
   1-12              (1)  is at least 21 years of age;
   1-13              (2)  is of good professional character;
   1-14              (3)  has completed 60 semester hours of college courses
   1-15  other than in medical school, which courses would be acceptable, at
   1-16  the time of completion, to The University of Texas for credit on a
   1-17  bachelor of arts degree or a bachelor of science degree; and
   1-18              (4)  is a graduate of an acceptable medical or
   1-19  osteopathic school or college that was approved by the board at the
   1-20  time the degree was conferred and has completed a one-year program
   1-21  of graduate medical training approved by the board.
   1-22        (d)  To be recognized by the board for the purposes of this
   1-23  subchapter, all medical <allopathic> or osteopathic medical
   1-24  education received by the applicant <instruction taught> in the
    2-1  United States must be accredited by an accrediting body officially
    2-2  recognized by the United States Department of Education <and the
    2-3  Council on Postsecondary Accreditation> as the accrediting body for
    2-4  medical education leading to the doctor of medicine degree or the
    2-5  doctor of osteopathy degree in the United States.  This subsection
    2-6  does not apply to postgraduate medical education or training.
    2-7        (f)  An applicant who is unable to comply with the education
    2-8  requirements of Subsection (d) of this section is eligible for an
    2-9  unrestricted license if the applicant is specialty board certified
   2-10  by a board approved by the American Board of Medical Specialties or
   2-11  the American Osteopathic Association.
   2-12        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-13  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-14  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-15  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-16  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-17  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-18  passage, and it is so enacted.