MMA C.S.H.B. 2613 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS


HIGHER EDUCATION
C.S.H.B. 2613
By: Cuellar
4-12-97
Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND 

Compensation levels for primary care faculty positions in Texas medical
schools are too low to compete successfully with financial opportunities
offered by the private sector and other medical schools.  Since the
state's capacity for training more medical students for primary care
careers depends on the availability of these faculty members, recruiting
and retaining them is of vital importance to the state. 

PURPOSE

C.S.H.B. 2613 would establish a funding system to attract people to
generalist faculty positions in Texas medical schools. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any
additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or
institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.Makes a statement of the problem of uncompetitive salaries for
primary care faculty at Texas medical schools and why a remedy is needed. 

SECTION 2. Amends Chapter 58, Education Code, by adding Section 58.007(h)
as follows: 
 (h)  Requires the Primary Care Residency Advisory Committee (committee)
to: 
(1) review applications for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
(THECB) pertaining to improvements of the faculty enhancement program as
described in Section 58.009; 
 (2) recommend award standards and criteria to THECB;
 (3) monitor contractual compliance with the awards; and
  (4) evaluate the program's success rate at Texas medical schools.

SECTION 3.  Amends Chapter 58, Education Code, by adding Section 58.009 as
follows: 
Section 58.009.  FACULTY ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM FOR GENERALIST PHYSICIANS.
 (a)  Establishes medical schools' eligibility to receive these funds.
 (b)  Establishes that eligible individuals must be full-time clinical
faculty in positions in family practice, general internal medicine and
general pediatrics, at a faculty rank not higher than assistant professor
or equivalent, to receive these funds. 
 (c)  Requires the committee to recommend to THECB which generalist
faculty positions should receive these funds.  Requires the committee to
consider the following factors for their allocation recommendation: 
  (1) the faculty-student ratio in the generalist speciality at that
school; 
  (2) the length of time a budgeted generalist faculty position has gone
unfilled; 
  (3) whether the position is a new one; and
  (4) other factors as determined by the committee.
 (d)  Requires THECB to support an award made to a particular school for a
total of two academic years.  Provides that after that time, the medical
school will provide the yearly faculty enhancement award from its
operating budget. 
 (e)  Prohibits THECB, for the first biennium after the effective date of
this section, from  spending more than five percent of the total
appropriated fund on administration of this program.  Prohibits THECB from
spending more than three percent thereafter. 

SECTION 4. Emergency clause. 

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 2613 makes non-substantive language changes and some technical
corrections as recommended by Legislative Council.  Deletes "tenure-track"
from subsection (b).  In addition, C.S.H.B. 2613 amends the language in
subsection (e) to prohibit the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
to spend no more than five percent of the appropriation on administration
in the first biennium and adds language to decrease it to three percent
thereafter.