By Corte, Maxey                                         H.B. No. 21

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to liability for the donation of medical devices to

 1-3     certain nonprofit organizations.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Title 4, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is

 1-6     amended by adding Chapter 88 to read as follows:

 1-7                  CHAPTER 88.  DONATION OF MEDICAL DEVICES

 1-8           Sec. 88.001.  DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:

 1-9                 (1)  "Device" means braces, artificial appliances,

1-10     durable medical equipment, and other medical supplies.  The term

1-11     does not include a medical device that is injected, implanted, or

1-12     otherwise placed in the human body.

1-13                 (2)  "Donate" means to give without requiring anything

1-14     of monetary value from the recipient.

1-15                 (3)  "Nonprofit health care organization" means:

1-16                       (A)  an organization that is exempt from federal

1-17     income tax under Section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of

1-18     1986 (26 U.S.C. Section 501) by being listed as an exempt

1-19     organization in Section 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) of that code and

1-20     that is organized and operated for the purpose of providing free or

1-21     reduced cost health care; or

1-22                       (B)  a bona fide charitable organization that is

1-23     organized and operated for the purpose of providing free or reduced

1-24     cost health care, that dedicates its assets to charitable purposes,

 2-1     and that does not provide net earnings to, or operate in a manner

 2-2     that inures to the benefit of, an officer, employee, or shareholder

 2-3     of the organization.

 2-4           Sec. 88.002.  LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES FROM DONATED DEVICE.  A

 2-5     person authorized to possess a device is not liable for personal

 2-6     injury, property damage, or death resulting from the nature, age,

 2-7     packaging, or condition of a device that the person donates in good

 2-8     faith to an entity that is authorized to possess the device and

 2-9     that is a nonprofit health care organization for use in providing

2-10     free or reduced cost health care.

2-11           Sec. 88.003.  EXCEPTIONS.  (a)  This chapter does not apply

2-12     to a person who donates a device:

2-13                 (1)  knowing that use of the device would be harmful to

2-14     the health or well-being of another person;

2-15                 (2)  with actual conscious indifference to the health

2-16     or well-being of another person; or

2-17                 (3)  in violation of state or federal law.

2-18           (b)  This chapter does not apply to a nonprofit health care

2-19     organization unless the organization has liability insurance in

2-20     effect that satisfies the requirements of Section 84.007(g).

2-21           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

2-22     applies to a cause of action that accrues on or after that date.

2-23     An action that accrued before the effective date of this Act is

2-24     governed by the law in effect at the time the action accrued, and

2-25     that law is continued in effect for that purpose.

2-26           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-27     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 3-1     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 3-2     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 3-3     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.