By Hupp H.B. No. 2856
75R8545 DLF-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the protection of women's health with respect to
1-3 services performed at an abortion facility and the right to access
1-4 certain information relating to abortion facilities.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 245.006, Health and Safety Code, is
1-7 amended to read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 245.006. INSPECTIONS. (a) The department may inspect
1-9 an abortion facility at reasonable times as necessary to ensure
1-10 [assure] compliance with this chapter.
1-11 (b) The department shall inspect an abortion facility before
1-12 renewing the facility's license under Section 245.005(e).
1-13 SECTION 2. Section 245.011(d), Health and Safety Code, is
1-14 amended to read as follows:
1-15 (d) Except as provided by Section 245.017, all [All]
1-16 information and records held by the department under this chapter
1-17 are confidential and are not open records for the purposes of
1-18 Chapter 552, Government Code. That information may not be released
1-19 or made public on subpoena or otherwise, except that release may be
1-20 made:
1-21 (1) for statistical purposes, but only if a person,
1-22 patient, or abortion facility is not identified;
1-23 (2) with the consent of each person, patient, and
1-24 abortion facility identified in the information released; or
2-1 (3) to medical personnel, appropriate state agencies,
2-2 or county and district courts to enforce this chapter.
2-3 SECTION 3. Chapter 245, Health and Safety Code, is amended
2-4 by adding Section 245.017 to read as follows:
2-5 Sec. 245.017. PUBLIC INFORMATION; TOLL-FREE TELEPHONE
2-6 NUMBER. (a) The department on request shall make the following
2-7 information available to the public:
2-8 (1) the status of the license of any abortion
2-9 facility;
2-10 (2) the date of the last inspection of the facility
2-11 and any violation discovered during that inspection that would pose
2-12 a health risk to a patient at the facility; and
2-13 (3) an administrative or civil penalty imposed against
2-14 the facility or a physician who provides services at the facility,
2-15 professional discipline imposed against a physician who provides
2-16 services at the facility, and any criminal conviction of the
2-17 facility or a physician who provides services at the facility that
2-18 is relevant to services provided at the facility.
2-19 (b) Subsection (a) does not require the department to
2-20 provide information that is not in the possession of the
2-21 department. The Texas State Board of Medical Examiners shall
2-22 provide to the department information in the possession of the
2-23 board that the department is required to provide under Subsection
2-24 (a).
2-25 (c) The department shall maintain a toll-free telephone
2-26 number that a person may call to obtain the information described
2-27 by Subsection (a).
3-1 (d) An abortion facility shall provide to a woman, at the
3-2 time the woman initially consults the facility, a written statement
3-3 indicating the number of the toll-free telephone line maintained
3-4 under Subsection (c). The written statement must be available in
3-5 English and Spanish and be in substantially the following form:
3-6 "(toll-free telephone number)
3-7 You have a right to access certain information
3-8 concerning this abortion facility by using the
3-9 toll-free telephone number listed above. If you make a
3-10 call to the number, your identity will remain
3-11 anonymous. The toll-free telephone line can provide you
3-12 with the following information:
3-13 (1) Whether this abortion facility is licensed
3-14 by the Texas Department of Health.
3-15 (2) The date of the last inspection of this
3-16 facility by the Texas Department of Health and any
3-17 violations of law or rules discovered during that
3-18 inspection that may pose a health risk to you.
3-19 (3) Any relevant fine, penalty, or judgment
3-20 rendered against this facility or a doctor who provides
3-21 services at this facility."
3-22 (e) This section does not authorize the release of the name,
3-23 address, or phone number of any employee or patient of an abortion
3-24 facility or of a physician who provides services at an abortion
3-25 facility.
3-26 SECTION 4. The change in law made by Section 1 of this Act
3-27 applies only to the renewal of the license of an abortion facility
4-1 on or after the effective date of this Act. The renewal of the
4-2 license of an abortion facility before the effective date of this
4-3 Act is governed by the law as it existed immediately before the
4-4 effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for
4-5 that purpose.
4-6 SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
4-7 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
4-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.