By:  Moncrief                                         S.B. No. 1764

         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.

         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to access to nursing facilities in rural counties.

 1-2           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-3           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 32, Human Resources Code,

 1-4     is amended by adding Section 32.0246 to read as follows:

 1-5           Sec. 32.0246.  NURSING HOME BEDS IN CERTAIN COUNTIES.

 1-6     (a)  At the request of the commissioners court of a county in which

 1-7     not more than two nursing facilities are certified to participate

 1-8     in the state Medicaid program, and subject to Subsection (d), the

 1-9     department may contract for additional nursing home beds under the

1-10     state Medicaid program in the county without regard to the

1-11     occupancy rate of available Medicaid beds.

1-12           (b)  A commissioners court that intends to make a request

1-13     under Subsection (a) shall publish notice of its intent in the

1-14     Texas Register and in a newspaper of general circulation in the

1-15     county.  The notice must request:

1-16                 (1)  comments on whether the request should be made;

1-17     and

1-18                 (2)  proposals from persons interested in providing

1-19     additional Medicaid beds in the county, including persons providing

1-20     Medicaid beds in a nursing facility with a high occupancy rate.

1-21           (c)  A commissioners court shall determine whether to proceed

 2-1     with a request after considering all comments and proposals

 2-2     received in response to the notices provided under Subsection (b).

 2-3     If the commissioners court proceeds with the request, the court may

 2-4     recommend that the department contract with a specific nursing

 2-5     facility that submitted a proposal.  In determining whether to

 2-6     proceed with the request and whether to recommend a specific

 2-7     nursing facility, the commissioners court shall consider:

 2-8                 (1)  the demographic and economic needs of the county;

 2-9                 (2)  the quality of existing nursing facility services

2-10     under the state Medicaid program in the county;

2-11                 (3)  the quality of the proposals submitted; and

2-12                 (4)  the degree of community support for additional

2-13     nursing facility services.

2-14           (d)  The department may not contract under this section for

2-15     more than 500 additional nursing home beds in a calendar year.

2-16           SECTION 2.  If, before implementing Section 32.0246, Human

2-17     Resources Code, as added by this Act, the Texas Department of Human

2-18     Services determines that a waiver or authorization from a federal

2-19     agency is necessary for implementation, the department shall

2-20     request the waiver or authorization and may delay implementing that

2-21     section until the waiver or authorization is granted.

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,

 3-2     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

 3-3     passage, and it is so enacted.