By Turner                                              S.B. No. 552
       74R4575 PB-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the establishment of a reeducation program for certain
    1-3  registered nurses.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Chapter 7, Title 71, Revised Statutes, is amended
    1-6  by adding Article 4518a to read as follows:
    1-7        Art. 4518a.  PROFESSIONAL REEDUCATION PROGRAM
    1-8        Sec. 1.  (a)  The board may conduct education programs for
    1-9  the reeducation of registered nurses who are displaced by changes
   1-10  in the workplace caused by the restructuring of the health care
   1-11  delivery system resulting in:
   1-12              (1)  a redistribution of employment situations for
   1-13  registered nurses among existing practice settings;
   1-14              (2)  the development of employment situations in new or
   1-15  nontraditional practice settings; and
   1-16              (3)  the need for additional professional skills for
   1-17  registered nurses to qualify for employment in existing or new
   1-18  practice settings.
   1-19        (b)  The board shall design the programs to provide a
   1-20  displaced registered nurse with the competencies and skills
   1-21  necessary to remain employable as a professional registered nurse.
   1-22        Sec. 2.  (a)  The board may accept, transfer, and spend funds
   1-23  made available by the federal or state government or by another
   1-24  public or private source to fund a reeducation program conducted
    2-1  under this article.
    2-2        (b)  The board may enter into contracts, award grants, or
    2-3  make other analogous arrangements as necessary to implement this
    2-4  article.
    2-5        (c)  The board may charge a reasonable fee to a registered
    2-6  nurse provided reeducation under this article to cover the costs of
    2-7  the reeducation program.  However, a registered nurse may not be
    2-8  denied the opportunity to participate in programs adopted under
    2-9  this article because of inability to pay.  The board shall deposit
   2-10  fees collected under this subsection in a special account in the
   2-11  state treasury to be used by the board only for the implementation
   2-12  of this article, including the employment of any necessary staff.
   2-13  Any balance remaining in the special account at the end of a fiscal
   2-14  year shall be reallocated for the same purposes for the next fiscal
   2-15  year.
   2-16        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   2-17        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-18  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-19  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-20  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-21  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.