By Madla S.B. No. 831
75R6240 MCK-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to tuberculosis coverage for public safety employees.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 607.001, Government Code, is amended to
1-5 read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 607.001. DEFINITIONS [DEFINITION]. In this chapter:[,]
1-7 (1) "Public [public] safety employee" means a peace
1-8 officer, fire fighter, or emergency medical services employee of
1-9 the state or a political subdivision of the state.
1-10 (2) "Screening test" means a rapid analytical
1-11 laboratory or other procedure to determine the need for further
1-12 diagnostic evaluation.
1-13 (3) "Tuberculosis" means a disease caused by
1-14 Mycobacterium tuberculosis or other members of the Mycobacterium
1-15 tuberculosis complex.
1-16 SECTION 2. Chapter 607, Government Code, is amended by
1-17 adding Section 607.005 to read as follows:
1-18 Sec. 607.005. TUBERCULOSIS BENEFITS. (a) The state and
1-19 each political subdivision of the state shall provide annual
1-20 tuberculosis screening tests for its public safety employees.
1-21 (b) It is presumed that a person who contracts tuberculosis
1-22 while employed as a public safety employee contracted the disease
1-23 during the course of employment.
1-24 (c) The state or political subdivision of the state
2-1 employing the public safety employee has the burden of rebutting
2-2 the presumption that the employee contracted tuberculosis during
2-3 the course of employment by clear and convincing evidence.
2-4 (d) The state or political subdivision of the state
2-5 employing a public safety employee who contracts tuberculosis
2-6 during the course of employment shall pay:
2-7 (1) the medical expenses incurred by the employee in
2-8 treating the disease that are not reimbursed or otherwise covered
2-9 under any health benefit plan covering the employee; and
2-10 (2) the employee's salary, including pay for overtime
2-11 built into the normal work schedule, for work missed because of the
2-12 disease.
2-13 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-14 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-15 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-16 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-17 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-18 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-19 passage, and it is so enacted.