1-1     By:  Moncrief                                         S.B. No. 1764

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 14, 1997; March 24, 1997, read

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

 1-4     April 14, 1997, reported favorably, as amended, by the following

 1-5     vote:  Yeas 11, Nays 0; April 14, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6     COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1                             By:  Moncrief

 1-7     Amend S.B. No. 1764 on page 1, line 49 by amending Subsection (d)

 1-8     to read as follows:

 1-9           (d)  The department may not contract under this section for

1-10     more than 120 additional nursing home beds per county per year and

1-11     may not exceed more than 500 additional nursing home beds statewide

1-12     in a calendar year.

1-13                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

1-14                                   AN ACT

1-15     relating to access to nursing facilities in rural counties.

1-16           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-17           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 32, Human Resources Code,

1-18     is amended by adding Section 32.0246 to read as follows:

1-19           Sec. 32.0246.  NURSING HOME BEDS IN CERTAIN COUNTIES.

1-20     (a)  At the request of the commissioners court of a county in which

1-21     not more than two nursing facilities are certified to participate

1-22     in the state Medicaid program, and subject to Subsection (d), the

1-23     department may contract for additional nursing home beds under the

1-24     state Medicaid program in the county without regard to the

1-25     occupancy rate of available Medicaid beds.

1-26           (b)  A commissioners court that intends to make a request

1-27     under Subsection (a) shall publish notice of its intent in the

1-28     Texas Register and in a newspaper of general circulation in the

1-29     county.  The notice must request:

1-30                 (1)  comments on whether the request should be made;

1-31     and

1-32                 (2)  proposals from persons interested in providing

1-33     additional Medicaid beds in the county, including persons providing

1-34     Medicaid beds in a nursing facility with a high occupancy rate.

1-35           (c)  A commissioners court shall determine whether to proceed

1-36     with a request after considering all comments and proposals

1-37     received in response to the notices provided under Subsection (b).

1-38     If the commissioners court proceeds with the request, the court may

1-39     recommend that the department contract with a specific nursing

1-40     facility that submitted a proposal.  In determining whether to

1-41     proceed with the request and whether to recommend a specific

1-42     nursing facility, the commissioners court shall consider:

1-43                 (1)  the demographic and economic needs of the county;

1-44                 (2)  the quality of existing nursing facility services

1-45     under the state Medicaid program in the county;

1-46                 (3)  the quality of the proposals submitted; and

1-47                 (4)  the degree of community support for additional

1-48     nursing facility services.

1-49           (d)  The department may not contract under this section for

1-50     more than 500 additional nursing home beds in a calendar year.

1-51           SECTION 2.  If, before implementing Section 32.0246, Human

1-52     Resources Code, as added by this Act, the Texas Department of Human

1-53     Services determines that a waiver or authorization from a federal

1-54     agency is necessary for implementation, the department shall

1-55     request the waiver or authorization and may delay implementing that

1-56     section until the waiver or authorization is granted.

1-57           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-58     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-59     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-60     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-61     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

1-62     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

1-63     passage, and it is so enacted.