1-1  By:  Nixon                                             S.B. No. 323
    1-2        (In the Senate - Filed January 25, 1995; January 26, 1995,
    1-3  read first time and referred to Committee on Health and Human
    1-4  Services; February 15, 1995, reported favorably by the following
    1-5  vote:  Yeas 9, Nays 0; February 15, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-7                                AN ACT
    1-8  relating to the licensing of certain physicians who are certified
    1-9  by a medical specialty board.
   1-10        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-11        SECTION 1.  Section 3.04, Medical Practice Act (Article
   1-12  4495b, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by amending
   1-13  Subsections (a) and (d) and adding Subsection (f) to read as
   1-14  follows:
   1-15        (a)  An applicant, to be eligible for the examination and
   1-16  issuance of a license, must present satisfactory proof to the board
   1-17  that the applicant:
   1-18              (1)  is at least 21 years of age;
   1-19              (2)  is of good professional character;
   1-20              (3)  has completed 60 semester hours of college courses
   1-21  other than in medical school, which courses would be acceptable, at
   1-22  the time of completion, to The University of Texas for credit on a
   1-23  bachelor of arts degree or a bachelor of science degree; and
   1-24              (4)  is a graduate of an acceptable medical or
   1-25  osteopathic school or college that was approved by the board at the
   1-26  time the degree was conferred and has completed a one-year program
   1-27  of graduate medical training approved by the board.
   1-28        (d)  To be recognized by the board for the purposes of this
   1-29  subchapter, all medical <allopathic> or osteopathic medical
   1-30  education received by the applicant <instruction taught> in the
   1-31  United States must be accredited by an accrediting body officially
   1-32  recognized by the United States Department of Education <and the
   1-33  Council on Postsecondary Accreditation> as the accrediting body for
   1-34  medical education leading to the doctor of medicine degree or the
   1-35  doctor of osteopathy degree in the United States.  This subsection
   1-36  does not apply to postgraduate medical education or training.
   1-37        (f)  An applicant who is unable to comply with the education
   1-38  requirements of Subsection (d) of this section is eligible for an
   1-39  unrestricted license if the applicant is specialty board certified
   1-40  by a board approved by the American Board of Medical Specialties or
   1-41  the American Osteopathic Association.
   1-42        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-43  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-44  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-45  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-46  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   1-47  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   1-48  passage, and it is so enacted.
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