By:  Ellis                                             S.B. No. 314
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to health certificates required for certain licenses and
 1-2     certificates issued by the Texas Cosmetology Commission.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 31, Chapter 1036, Acts of the 62nd
 1-5     Legislature, Regular Session, 1971 (Article 8451a, Vernon's Texas
 1-6     Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 31.  HEALTH CERTIFICATE.  (a)  Every applicant for an
 1-8     original or renewal operator license, instructor license,
 1-9     reciprocal license, or specialty certificate must submit a
1-10     certificate of health signed by a licensed physician, advanced
1-11     practice nurse, or licensed physician assistant, showing that the
1-12     applicant is free, as determined by an examination, from
1-13     tuberculosis[, hepatitis,] or a contagious disease for which the
1-14     applicant is not entitled to protection under the Americans with
1-15     Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. Section 12101 et seq.).
1-16           (b)  Any physician, advanced practice nurse, or physician
1-17     assistant who signs a health certificate required by Subsection
1-18     (a)  of this section showing the applicant to be free from a
1-19     disease covered by that subsection without having made the physical
1-20     examination is guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction may be
1-21     fined not less than $50 or more than $200.
1-22           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
1-23     applies only to an application for a license or certificate or to
1-24     renewal of a license or certificate filed on or after that date.
 2-1     An application filed before the effective date of this Act is
 2-2     governed by the law in effect at the time the application was made,
 2-3     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
 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.