By Carter                                       H.B. No. 1435

      75R4923 JMM-F                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the regulation of the practice of chiropractic.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Chapter 94, Acts of the 51st Legislature, Regular

 1-5     Session, 1949 (Article 4512b, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is

 1-6     amended by adding Section 5b to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 5b.  PRACTICE BY PERSONS WHO EMPLOY OR SUPERVISE

 1-8     CHIROPRACTORS.  (a)  A person who owns, maintains, or operates an

 1-9     office or place of business in which the person employs, directs,

1-10     supervises, or otherwise controls, regardless of whether under a

1-11     contract, another person for the purpose of practicing chiropractic

1-12     is required to obtain a license under this Act and comply with the

1-13     requirements of this Act.  A person subject to this section is not

1-14     exempt from the license requirements of this Act on the grounds

1-15     that the other person employed, directed, supervised, or otherwise

1-16     controlled by the person is licensed under this Act.

1-17           (b)  A person who violates this section is engaged in the

1-18     practice of chiropractic without a license for the purposes of

1-19     Section 5a of this Act.

1-20           (c)  This section does not require the following persons or

1-21     entities to obtain a license to employ a licensed chiropractor:

1-22                 (1)  a managed care organization;

1-23                 (2)  a professional association formed under the Texas

1-24     Professional Association Act (Article 1528f, Vernon's Texas Civil

 2-1     Statutes);

 2-2                 (3)  a spouse of a chiropractor who inherits the

 2-3     chiropractor's chiropractic facility;

 2-4                 (4)  the administrator or executor of the estate of a

 2-5     chiropractor to the extent provided by Subsection (d) of this

 2-6     section; or

 2-7                 (5)  a person legally authorized to act for a

 2-8     chiropractor who is mentally incompetent to the extent provided by

 2-9     Subsection (d) of this section.

2-10           (d)  A licensed chiropractor employed by a person under

2-11     Subsections (c)(4) or (5) may practice chiropractic for a

2-12     reasonable time, as determined by the board, to carry out the

2-13     practice of the deceased or mentally incompetent chiropractor or to

2-14     otherwise conclude the affairs of the practice, including the sale

2-15     of the remaining assets of the practice.

2-16           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

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.