1-1     By:  Naishtat, Junell (Senate Sponsor - Moncrief)     H.B. No. 2909
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 10, 1999;
 1-3     May 10, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on Health
 1-4     Services; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:
 1-5     Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the nursing and convalescent home trust fund.
 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10           SECTION 1.  Section 242.096(e), Health and Safety Code, is
1-11     amended to read as follows:
1-12           (e)  Any unencumbered amount in the nursing and convalescent
1-13     home trust fund in excess of $10,000,000 [$500,000] at the end of
1-14     each fiscal year shall be transferred to the credit of the general
1-15     revenue fund and may be appropriated only to the department for its
1-16     use in administering and enforcing this chapter.
1-17           SECTION 2.  Section 242.097, Health and Safety Code, is
1-18     amended to read as follows:
1-19           Sec. 242.097.  ADDITIONAL LICENSE FEE.  (a)  In addition to
1-20     the license fee provided by Section 242.034, the department shall
1-21     adopt an annual fee to be charged and collected if the amount of
1-22     the nursing and convalescent home trust fund is less than
1-23     $10,000,000 [$500,000].  The fee shall be deposited to the credit
1-24     of the nursing and convalescent home trust fund created by this
1-25     subchapter.
1-26           (b)  The department may charge and collect a fee under this
1-27     section more than once each year only if necessary to ensure that
1-28     the amount in the nursing and convalescent home trust fund is
1-29     sufficient to make the disbursements required under Section
1-30     242.096. If the department makes a second or subsequent assessment
1-31     under this subsection in any year, the department shall notify the
1-32     governor and the members of the Legislative Budget Board.
1-33           (c)  The department shall set the fee for each nursing and
1-34     convalescent home at $1 for each licensed unit of capacity or bed
1-35     space in that home or in an amount necessary to provide not more
1-36     than $10,000,000 [$500,000] in the fund.  The total fees assessed
1-37     in a year may not exceed $20 for each licensed unit of capacity or
1-38     bed space in a home.
1-39           SECTION 3.  The change in law made by Section 1 of this Act
1-40     applies only to the unencumbered amount in the nursing and
1-41     convalescent home trust fund at the end of a fiscal year that ends
1-42     on or after the effective date of this Act.
1-43           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-44     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-45     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-46     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-47     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-48     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-49     passage, and it is so enacted.
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