1-1     By:  Hilderbran (Senate Sponsor - Moncrief)           H.B. No. 3452
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 11, 1999;
 1-3     May 12, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on Human
 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 binding arbitration to resolve certain disputes
 1-9     involving certain residential and custodial facilities licensed by
1-10     the Texas Department of Human Services.
1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12           SECTION 1.  Section 242.252, Health and Safety Code, is
1-13     amended to read as follows:
1-14           Sec. 242.252.  ELECTION OF ARBITRATION.  (a)  Except as
1-15     provided by Subsection (d), an [An] affected institution may elect
1-16     binding arbitration of any dispute to which this subchapter
1-17     applies.  Arbitration under this subchapter is an alternative to a
1-18     contested case hearing or to a judicial proceeding relating to the
1-19     assessment of a civil penalty.
1-20           (b)  An affected institution may elect arbitration under this
1-21     subchapter by filing the election with the court in which the
1-22     lawsuit is pending and sending notice of the election to the
1-23     department and the office of the attorney general.  The election
1-24     must be filed not later than the 10th day after the date on which
1-25     the answer is due or the date on which the answer is filed,
1-26     whichever is sooner [after a notice of hearing relating to any
1-27     dispute described by Section 242.251 is received by the
1-28     institution].  If a civil penalty is requested after the initial
1-29     filing of a Section 242.094 lawsuit through the filing of an
1-30     amended or supplemental pleading, an affected institution must
1-31     elect arbitration not later than the 10th day after the date on
1-32     which the amended or supplemental pleading is served on the
1-33     affected institution or its counsel.
1-34           (c)  The department may elect arbitration under this
1-35     subchapter by filing the election with the court in which the
1-36     lawsuit is pending and by notifying the institution of the election
1-37     not later than the date that the institution may elect arbitration
1-38     under Subsection (b).
1-39           (d)  Arbitration may not be used to resolve a dispute related
1-40     to an affected institution that has had an award levied against it
1-41     in the previous five years.
1-42           (e)  If arbitration is not permitted under this subchapter or
1-43     the election of arbitration is not timely filed:
1-44                 (1)  the court will dismiss the arbitration election
1-45     and retain jurisdiction of the lawsuit; and
1-46                 (2)  the State Office of Administrative Hearings shall
1-47     dismiss the arbitration and has no jurisdiction over the lawsuit.
1-48           (f)  An election to engage in arbitration under this
1-49     subchapter is irrevocable and binding on the institution and the
1-50     department.
1-51           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
1-52     applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or after that
1-53     date.  A cause of action that accrues before the effective date of
1-54     this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the cause of
1-55     action accrues, and that law is continued in effect for that
1-56     purpose.
1-57           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-58     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-59     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-60     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-61     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-62                                  * * * * *