1-1           By:  Sibley                                      S.B. No. 262

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed January 22, 1997; January 23, 1997,

 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Health and Human

 1-4     Services; March 5, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:

 1-5     Yeas 11, Nays 0; March 5, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to employment in a nursing home or other facility serving

 1-9     the elderly or disabled.

1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 250.006, Health and Safety Code, is

1-12     amended to read as follows:

1-13           Sec. 250.006.  CONVICTIONS BARRING EMPLOYMENT. A person

1-14     convicted of an offense listed in this section may not be employed

1-15     in a position the duties of which involve direct contact with a

1-16     consumer in a facility:

1-17                 (1)  an offense under Chapter 19, Penal Code (criminal

1-18     homicide);

1-19                 (2)  an offense under Chapter 20, Penal Code

1-20     (kidnapping and false imprisonment);

1-21                 (3)  an offense under Section 21.11, Penal Code

1-22     (indecency with a child);

1-23                 (4)  an offense under Section 22.011, Penal Code

1-24     (sexual assault);

1-25                 (5)  an offense under Section 22.02, Penal Code

1-26     (aggravated assault);

1-27                 (6)  an offense under Section 22.04, Penal Code (injury

1-28     to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual);

1-29                 (7)  an offense under Section 22.041, Penal Code

1-30     (abandoning or endangering child);

1-31                 (8)  an offense under Section 22.08, Penal Code (aiding

1-32     suicide);

1-33                 (9)  an offense under Section 25.031, Penal Code

1-34     (agreement to abduct from custody);

1-35                 (10) [(5)]  an offense under Section 25.08, Penal Code

1-36     (sale or purchase of a child);

1-37                 (11) [(6)]  an offense under Section 28.02, Penal Code

1-38     (arson);

1-39                 (12) [(7)]  an offense under Section 29.02, Penal Code

1-40     (robbery); or

1-41                 (13) [(8)]  an offense under Section 29.03, Penal Code

1-42     (aggravated robbery).

1-43           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-44           (b)  The change in law made by this Act applies only to a

1-45     person hired on or after September 1, 1997, in a position the

1-46     duties of which involve direct contact with a consumer in a

1-47     facility.  The change in law made by this Act does not apply to a

1-48     person hired before September 1, 1997, in a position the duties of

1-49     which involve direct contact with a consumer in a facility as long

1-50     as the person remains continuously employed in that position on and

1-51     after the effective date of this Act.

1-52           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-53     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-54     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-55     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-56     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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