By Capelo H.B. No. 1864
76R3317 JRD-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the study and development of the Optional Promotora
1-3 Outreach Program, under which community volunteers provide public
1-4 health and sanitation services.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. PURPOSE. The purpose of this Act is to establish
1-7 a temporary committee that will study certain issues related to the
1-8 development of the Optional Promotora Outreach Program and advise
1-9 the Texas Department of Health and the governor and legislature
1-10 regarding its findings.
1-11 SECTION 2. DEFINITIONS. In this Act:
1-12 (1) "Committee" means the Optional Promotora Program
1-13 Development Committee.
1-14 (2) "Department" means the Texas Department of Health.
1-15 (3) "Program" means the Optional Promotora Outreach
1-16 Program.
1-17 (4) "Promotora" means a community health outreach
1-18 volunteer who provides community services with regard to public
1-19 health, public sanitation, and related matters, including providing
1-20 information to and receiving information from members of a
1-21 community. The term includes persons who are not health care
1-22 professionals.
1-23 SECTION 3. COMMITTEE. (a) The department shall establish
1-24 the committee to study the development of a framework for the
2-1 program and to advise the department and the governor and
2-2 legislature regarding its findings and recommendations.
2-3 (b) The committee is composed of the following 12 members:
2-4 (1) two representatives designated by the department,
2-5 of whom one must be a department employee assigned to the
2-6 department's Medicaid division and the other of whom must be a
2-7 department employee assigned to a department field office near the
2-8 state's international border;
2-9 (2) one representative of the Texas Higher Education
2-10 Coordinating Board designated by that board;
2-11 (3) one representative of Texas Tech University,
2-12 designated by the university, who also serves as the presiding
2-13 officer of the committee;
2-14 (4) one representative of The Texas A&M University
2-15 Center for Housing and Urban Development, in the university's
2-16 school of architecture, designated by the center;
2-17 (5) two representatives of The University of Texas
2-18 System designated by the system, of whom one must be from the
2-19 system's Valley Border Health Coordination Office and the other of
2-20 whom must be from the Health Education Training Centers Alliance of
2-21 Texas;
2-22 (6) one representative of the Texas Association of
2-23 Community Colleges designated by the association;
2-24 (7) two persons who are currently serving as
2-25 promotoras, one of whom shall be designated by the lieutenant
2-26 governor and one of whom shall be designated by the speaker of the
2-27 house of representatives; and
3-1 (8) two representatives of the general public who are
3-2 not officers or employees of government, one of whom shall be
3-3 designated by the lieutenant governor and one of whom shall be
3-4 designated by the speaker of the house of representatives.
3-5 (c) Chapter 2110, Government Code, does not apply to the
3-6 committee, except Section 2110.005 does apply.
3-7 (d) A member of the committee is not entitled to
3-8 compensation for service on the committee. Reasonable and
3-9 necessary expenses incurred in performing duties as a member of the
3-10 committee by a member of the committee who is an officer or
3-11 employee of state government are reimbursed as expenses incurred in
3-12 the performance of the member's duties as a state officer or
3-13 employee. The two members of the committee who are currently
3-14 serving as promotoras are entitled to reimbursement for reasonable
3-15 travel expenses incurred in performing duties as a member of the
3-16 committee in the manner provided by the General Appropriations Act
3-17 and out of appropriations to the department. Other members of the
3-18 committee are not entitled to reimbursement for expenses.
3-19 (e) The department shall provide staff support to the
3-20 committee.
3-21 (f) The committee shall meet at the call of the presiding
3-22 officer of the committee, at the call of the commissioner of
3-23 health, and as provided by procedural rules or schedules adopted by
3-24 the committee.
3-25 SECTION 4. RESPONSIBILITIES OF COMMITTEE. (a) The
3-26 committee shall develop a framework for the program that includes
3-27 at a minimum the development of:
4-1 (1) a standard curriculum for training persons who
4-2 volunteer to work as promotoras;
4-3 (2) an optional program to certify promotoras;
4-4 (3) standardized information that a promotora should
4-5 make available in any community; and
4-6 (4) a method to evaluate the success of the program.
4-7 (b) In devising the framework, the committee shall consult
4-8 with nationally recognized experts in the field of lay community
4-9 health outreach workers.
4-10 (c) The committee shall evaluate the feasibility of seeking
4-11 a federal waiver so that promotora services may be included as a
4-12 reimbursable service provided under the state Medicaid program.
4-13 (d) Not later than November 1, 2000, the committee shall
4-14 submit a report to the department, the governor, and the presiding
4-15 officer of each house of the legislature that includes the
4-16 committee's findings and its proposed framework for the program.
4-17 SECTION 5. FUNDING. The department shall pay for the costs
4-18 of the committee's activities out of money appropriated to the
4-19 department that may be used for that purpose.
4-20 SECTION 6. EXPIRATION. The committee is abolished and this
4-21 Act expires December 31, 2000.
4-22 SECTION 7. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes effect September
4-23 1, 1999.
4-24 SECTION 8. EMERGENCY. The importance of this legislation
4-25 and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-26 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-27 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-1 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.