By Gray                                               H.B. No. 2038
         76R2659 SKT-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to certain fees set by the Texas Board of Health.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 241.025, Health and Safety Code, is
 1-5     amended to read as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 241.025.  LICENSE AND OTHER FEES.  (a)  The department
 1-7     shall charge each hospital an annual license fee for an initial
 1-8     license or a license renewal.
 1-9           (b)  The board by rule shall adopt the fees authorized by
1-10     Subsection (a) according to a schedule in which the number of beds
1-11     in the hospital determines the amount of the fee.  [The fee may not
1-12     exceed $10 a bed, and the total fee may not be less than $200 or
1-13     more than $10,000.]
1-14           (c)  The board by rule shall adopt a:
1-15                 (1)  temporary initial license fee;
1-16                 (2)  fee for hospital plan reviews; and
1-17                 (3)  fee for field surveys of construction plans
1-18     reviewed by the department.
1-19           (d)  Fees adopted under this section must be in an amount
1-20     sufficient to cover the reasonable expenses [expense to the
1-21     department] of administering this chapter [issuing the license].
1-22           (e) [(d)]  All [license] fees collected shall be deposited in
1-23     the state treasury to the credit of the department to administer
1-24     and enforce this chapter.  These fees are hereby appropriated to
 2-1     the department.
 2-2           SECTION 2.  Section 577.006(d), Health and Safety Code, is
 2-3     amended to read as follows:
 2-4           (d)  The fees should be designed to recover all of the
 2-5     department's cost in performing the department's duties under this
 2-6     chapter [granting the initial license and in renewing the license,
 2-7     but may not exceed $250].
 2-8           SECTION 3.  Section 11, Opticians' Registry Act (Article
 2-9     4551-1, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as
2-10     follows:
2-11           Sec. 11.  FEES; FUND.  (a)  The board by rule shall adopt
2-12     fees for [prescribe fees in the amounts necessary to administer
2-13     this Act, not to exceed]:
2-14                 (1)  [$50 for] an initial application for a
2-15     registration;
2-16                 (2)  [$20 for] the issuance of a certificate of
2-17     registration;
2-18                 (3)  [$30 for] the annual renewal certificate of
2-19     registration; and
2-20                 (4)  [$20 for] issuance of a duplicate certificate of
2-21     registration or renewal certificate of registration.
2-22           (b)  Fees under this section must be prescribed in the
2-23     amounts necessary to administer this Act.
2-24           (c)  The board shall deposit all amounts received under this
2-25     Act in the state treasury to the credit of a special fund known as
2-26     the optician registry fund.  Money in that fund is hereby
2-27     appropriated to the department to be used by the Texas Department
 3-1     of Health for the administration of this Act.
 3-2           SECTION 4.  Sections 241.104 and 577.006(e), Health and
 3-3     Safety Code, are repealed.
 3-4           SECTION 5.  This Act applies only to a fee that is originally
 3-5     due on or after the effective date of this Act.  A fee that is
 3-6     originally due before the effective date of this Act is governed by
 3-7     the law as it existed immediately before the effective date of this
 3-8     Act and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
 3-9           SECTION 6.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-10           SECTION 7.  The importance of this legislation and the
3-11     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-12     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-13     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-14     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.