1-1     By:  Moncrief                                          S.B. No. 770

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed February 25, 1997; March 3, 1997, read

 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Finance; March 24, 1997,

 1-4     reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 11, Nays 0;

 1-5     March 24, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to the funding of certain peer assistance programs.

 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-10           SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 467.004, Health and

1-11     Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:

1-12           (a)  Except as provided by Section 467.0041(b), a [A]

1-13     licensing or disciplinary authority may add a surcharge of not more

1-14     than $5 to its license or license renewal fee to fund an approved

1-15     peer assistance program.  The authority must adopt the surcharge in

1-16     accordance with the procedure that the authority uses to initiate

1-17     and adopt an increase in its license or license renewal fee.

1-18           SECTION 2.  Subsection (b), Section 467.0041, Health and

1-19     Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:

1-20           (b)  The board may add a surcharge of not more than $10 [$5]

1-21     to its license or license renewal fee to fund an approved peer

1-22     assistance program.

1-23           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-24           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-25     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-26     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-27     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-28     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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