By Zaffirini, et al.                                    S.B. No. 18
         76R1635 DLF-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the authority of the attorney general to recover a
 1-3     civil penalty from certain nursing homes and related institutions.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 242.065(a), Health and Safety Code, is
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7           (a)  A person who violates or causes a violation of this
 1-8     chapter or a rule adopted under this chapter is liable for a civil
 1-9     penalty of not less than $1,000 or more than $20,000 for each act
1-10     of violation if the department determines the violation threatens
1-11     the health and safety of a resident. At the request of the
1-12     department, the attorney  general may bring an action to recover a
1-13     civil penalty under this section.
1-14           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-15     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-16     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-17     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-18     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-19     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-20     passage, and it is so enacted.