By Noriega                                            H.B. No. 2229
         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to reimbursement of public safety employees for
 1-3     work-related exposure to contagious disease or hazardous materials.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 607.002, Government Code, is amended to
 1-6     read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 607.002.  Reimbursement.  (a)  A public safety employee
 1-8     who is exposed to a contagious disease or hazardous material is
 1-9     entitled to reimbursement from the employing governmental entity
1-10     for reasonable medical expenses incurred in treatment for the
1-11     prevention of the disease or conditions caused by exposure to the
1-12     hazardous material if:
1-13                 (1)  the disease is not an "ordinary disease of life"
1-14     as that term is used in the context of a workers' compensation
1-15     claim;
1-16                 (2)  the exposure to the disease or hazardous material
1-17     occurs during the course of the employment; and
1-18                 (3)  the employee requires preventative medical
1-19     treatment because of the exposure to the disease or hazardous
1-20     material.
1-21           (b)  As used in this section, the term "hazardous material"
 2-1     has the same definition as that supplied in Section 79.001(1),
 2-2     Civil Practice & Remedies Code.
 2-3           SECTION 2.  This act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-4           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-5     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-6     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-7     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-8     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 2-9     and that this Act take effect and be in force according to its
2-10     terms, and it is so enacted.