By Smithee                                            H.B. No. 1170

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to certain nursing homes for purposes of professional

 1-3     liability insurance coverage.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 8, Article 5.15-1, Insurance Code, is

 1-6     amended to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 8.  Punitive damages under medical professional

 1-8     liability insurance.  No policy of medical professional liability

 1-9     insurance issued to or renewed for a health care provider or

1-10     physician in this state may include coverage for punitive damages

1-11     that may be assessed against the health care provider or physician;

1-12     provided, however, that the commissioner [board] may approve an

1-13     endorsement form that provides for coverage for punitive damages to

1-14     be used on a policy of medical professional liability insurance

1-15     issued to a hospital, as the term "hospital" is defined in this

1-16     article, to a not-for-profit nursing home, or to a for-profit

1-17     nursing home with a Medicaid census greater than 30 percent of the

1-18     home's total census.

1-19           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

1-20     applies only to an insurance policy that is delivered, issued for

1-21     delivery, or renewed on or after January 1, 1998.  A policy that is

1-22     delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed before January 1, 1998,

1-23     is governed by the law as it existed immediately before the

1-24     effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for

 2-1     that purpose.

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

 2-3     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-4     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-5     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-6     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.