By:  Sibley                                            S.B. No. 262

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to employment in a nursing home or other facility serving

 1-2     the elderly or disabled.

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

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 250.006, Health and Safety Code, is

 1-5     amended to read as follows:

 1-6           Sec. 250.006.  CONVICTIONS BARRING EMPLOYMENT. A person

 1-7     convicted of an offense listed in this section may not be employed

 1-8     in a position the duties of which involve direct contact with a

 1-9     consumer in a facility:

1-10                 (1)  an offense under Chapter 19, Penal Code (criminal

1-11     homicide);

1-12                 (2)  an offense under Chapter 20, Penal Code

1-13     (kidnapping and false imprisonment);

1-14                 (3)  an offense under Section 21.11, Penal Code

1-15     (indecency with a child);

1-16                 (4)  an offense under Section 22.011, Penal Code

1-17     (sexual assault);

1-18                 (5)  an offense under Section 22.02, Penal Code

1-19     (aggravated assault);

1-20                 (6)  an offense under Section 22.04, Penal Code (injury

1-21     to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual);

1-22                 (7)  an offense under Section 22.041, Penal Code

1-23     (abandoning or endangering child);

 2-1                 (8)  an offense under Section 22.08, Penal Code (aiding

 2-2     suicide);

 2-3                 (9)  an offense under Section 25.031, Penal Code

 2-4     (agreement to abduct from custody);

 2-5                 (10) [(5)]  an offense under Section 25.08, Penal Code

 2-6     (sale or purchase of a child);

 2-7                 (11) [(6)]  an offense under Section 28.02, Penal Code

 2-8     (arson);

 2-9                 (12) [(7)]  an offense under Section 29.02, Penal Code

2-10     (robbery); or

2-11                 (13) [(8)]  an offense under Section 29.03, Penal Code

2-12     (aggravated robbery).

2-13           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-14           (b)  The change in law made by this Act applies only to a

2-15     person hired on or after September 1, 1997, in a position the

2-16     duties of which involve direct contact with a consumer in a

2-17     facility.  The change in law made by this Act does not apply to a

2-18     person hired before September 1, 1997, in a position the duties of

2-19     which involve direct contact with a consumer in a facility as long

2-20     as the person remains continuously employed in that position on and

2-21     after the effective date of this Act.

2-22           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-23     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-24     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-25     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 3-1     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.