By Serna                                              H.B. No. 2914
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to nurse aides and registered nurses in certain nursing
    1-3  facilities funded through the state Medicaid program.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 32, Human Resources Code,
    1-6  is amended by adding Section 32.0212 to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 32.0212.  NURSE AIDES AND REGISTERED NURSES IN NURSING
    1-8  FACILITIES.  (a)  The department shall include in a contract for
    1-9  the delivery of medical assistance by a nursing facility provisions
   1-10  requiring that the facility maintain a sufficient ratio of nurse
   1-11  aides and registered nurses to residents to meet the needs of the
   1-12  residents.
   1-13        (b)  At a minimum, the contract provisions must require that
   1-14  the facility maintain:
   1-15              (1)  at least one nurse aide for each eight residents
   1-16  during a day shift;
   1-17              (2)  at least one nurse aide for each 12 residents
   1-18  during a night shift; and
   1-19              (3)  at least one registered nurse aide for each 14
   1-20  residents during each day shift and night shift.
   1-21        (c)  In this section, "nurse aide" means a certified nurse
   1-22  aide or a person enrolled in an approved nurse aide training
   1-23  course.
    2-1        SECTION 2.  If, before implementing Section 32.0212, Human
    2-2  Resources Code, as added by this Act, the Texas Department of Human
    2-3  Services determines that a waiver or authorization from a federal
    2-4  agency is necessary for implementation, the department shall
    2-5  request the waiver or authorization and may delay implementing that
    2-6  section until the waiver or authorization is granted.
    2-7        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-8  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-9  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-10  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-11  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-12  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-13  passage, and it is so enacted.