S.B. No. 323
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the licensing of certain physicians who are certified
    1-2  by a medical specialty board.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 3.04, Medical Practice Act (Article
    1-5  4495b, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by amending
    1-6  Subsections (a) and (d) and adding Subsection (f) to read as
    1-7  follows:
    1-8        (a)  An applicant, to be eligible for the examination and
    1-9  issuance of a license, must present satisfactory proof to the board
   1-10  that the applicant:
   1-11              (1)  is at least 21 years of age;
   1-12              (2)  is of good professional character;
   1-13              (3)  has completed 60 semester hours of college courses
   1-14  other than in medical school, which courses would be acceptable, at
   1-15  the time of completion, to The University of Texas for credit on a
   1-16  bachelor of arts degree or a bachelor of science degree; and
   1-17              (4)  is a graduate of an acceptable medical or
   1-18  osteopathic school or college that was approved by the board at the
   1-19  time the degree was conferred and has completed a one-year program
   1-20  of graduate medical training approved by the board.
   1-21        (d)  To be recognized by the board for the purposes of this
   1-22  subchapter, all medical <allopathic> or osteopathic medical
   1-23  education received by the applicant <instruction taught> in the
   1-24  United States must be accredited by an accrediting body officially
    2-1  recognized by the United States Department of Education <and the
    2-2  Council on Postsecondary Accreditation> as the accrediting body for
    2-3  medical education leading to the doctor of medicine degree or the
    2-4  doctor of osteopathy degree in the United States.  This subsection
    2-5  does not apply to postgraduate medical education or training.
    2-6        (f)  An applicant who is unable to comply with the
    2-7  requirements of Subsection (d) of this section is eligible for an
    2-8  unrestricted license if the applicant:
    2-9              (1)  received such medical education in a hospital or
   2-10  teaching institution sponsoring or participating in a program of
   2-11  graduate medical education accredited by the Accrediting Council
   2-12  for Graduate Medical Education, the American Osteopathic
   2-13  Association, or the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners in the
   2-14  same subject as the medical or osteopathic medical education if the
   2-15  hospital or teaching institution has an agreement with the
   2-16  applicant's school; or
   2-17              (2)  is specialty board certified by a board approved
   2-18  by the American Osteopathic Association or the American Board of
   2-19  Medical Specialties.
   2-20        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-21  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-22  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-23  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-24  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-25  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-26  passage, and it is so enacted.