By:  Moncrief                                          S.B. No. 597
         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to the nursing and convalescent home trust fund.
 1-2           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-3                 SECTION 1.  Section 242.096(e), Health and Safety Code,
 1-4     is amended to read as follows:
 1-5           (e)  Any unencumbered amount in the nursing and convalescent
 1-6     home trust fund in excess of $10,000,000 [$500,000] at the end of
 1-7     each fiscal year shall be transferred to the credit of the general
 1-8     revenue fund and may be appropriated only to the department for its
 1-9     use in administering and enforcing this chapter.
1-10           SECTION 2.  Section 242.097, Health and Safety Code, is
1-11     amended to read as follows:
1-12           Sec. 242.097.  ADDITIONAL LICENSE FEE.  (a)  In addition to
1-13     the license fee provided by Section 242.034, the department shall
1-14     adopt an annual fee to be charged and collected if the amount of
1-15     the nursing and convalescent home trust fund is less than
1-16     $10,000,000 [$500,000].  The fee shall be deposited to the credit
1-17     of the nursing and convalescent home trust fund created by this
1-18     subchapter.
1-19           (b)  The department may charge and collect a fee under this
1-20     section more than once each year only if necessary to ensure that
1-21     the amount in the nursing and convalescent home trust fund is
1-22     sufficient to make the disbursements required under Section
 2-1     242.096.
 2-2           (c)  The department shall set the fee for each nursing and
 2-3     convalescent home at $1 for each licensed unit of capacity or bed
 2-4     space in that home or in an an amount necessary to provide not more
 2-5     than $10,000,000 [$500,000] in the fund.
 2-6           SECTION 3.  The change in law made by Section 1 of this Act
 2-7     applies only to the unencumbered amount in the nursing and
 2-8     convalescent home trust fund at the end of a fiscal year that ends
 2-9     on or after the effective date of this Act.
2-10           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-11     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-12     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-13     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-14     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-15     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-16     passage, and it is so enacted.