By Wohlgemuth                                   H.B. No. 1500

      75R3369 SKB-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to eligibility for indigent health care.

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

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 61.008, Health and Safety Code, is

 1-5     amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:

 1-6           (c)  The commissioners court of a county may require an

 1-7     applicant who is at least 18 years of age to be a citizen of the

 1-8     United States or a noncitizen lawfully present in the United States

 1-9     to receive health care assistance under this chapter, unless the

1-10     applicant needs emergency medical services.

1-11           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

1-12     applies only to an application for indigent health care that is

1-13     filed on or after that date.

1-14           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-15     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-16     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-17     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-18     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.