By Chavez                                             H.B. No. 3199
         76R7610 JMM-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to a promotora program under which persons who act as
 1-3     bilingual liaisons between health care providers and patients are
 1-4     trained and regulated.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subtitle B, Title 2, Health and Safety Code, is
 1-7     amended by adding Chapter 46 to read as follows:
 1-8             CHAPTER 46.  TRAINING AND REGULATION OF PROMOTORAS
 1-9           Sec. 46.001.  DEFINITION.  In this chapter, "promotora" means
1-10     a person who, with or without compensation, provides a bilingual
1-11     liaison between health care providers and patients through
1-12     activities that include assisting in case conferences, providing
1-13     patient education, making referrals to health and social services,
1-14     conducting needs assessments, distributing surveys to identify
1-15     barriers to health care delivery, making home visits, and providing
1-16     language services.
1-17           Sec. 46.002.  PROMOTORA TRAINING PROGRAM.  (a)  The
1-18     department shall establish and operate a program designed to train
1-19     and educate persons who act as promotoras.  In establishing the
1-20     training program, the department, to the extent possible, shall use
1-21     as a resource the uniform curriculum for training and educating
1-22     promotoras developed by the Health Education Training Centers
1-23     Alliance of Texas.
1-24           (b)  Participation in a training and education program
 2-1     established under this section is voluntary.
 2-2           Sec. 46.003.  CERTIFICATION PROGRAM FOR PROMOTORAS.  (a)  The
 2-3     department shall establish and operate a certification program for
 2-4     persons who act as promotoras.  In establishing the program, the
 2-5     board shall adopt rules that provide minimum standards and
 2-6     guidelines, including participation in the training and education
 2-7     program under Section 46.002, for issuance of a certificate to a
 2-8     person under this section.
 2-9           (b)  Receipt of a certificate issued under this section may
2-10     not be a requirement for a person to act as a promotora.
2-11           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-12           (b)  The Texas Department of Health shall establish the
2-13     promotora training and certification program required by this Act
2-14     not later than January 1, 2000.  The Texas Board of Health shall
2-15     adopt rules as necessary under this Act not later than December 1,
2-16     1999.
2-17           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-18     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-19     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-20     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-21     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.