1-1     By:  Nelson                                           S.B. No. 1233
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 11, 1999; March 11, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Health Services;
 1-4     March 24, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 5,
 1-5     Nays 0; March 24, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the regulation of athletic trainers.
 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10           SECTION 1.  Section 1, Chapter 498, Acts of the 62nd
1-11     Legislature, Regular Session, 1971 (Article 4512d, Vernon's Texas
1-12     Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-13           Sec. 1.  DEFINITIONS;  EXCEPTIONS.  (a)  In this Act:
1-14                 (1)  "Athletic injury" means an injury sustained by a
1-15     person as a result of the person's participation in an organized
1-16     sport or sport-related exercise or activity, including
1-17     interscholastic, intercollegiate, intramural, semiprofessional, and
1-18     professional sports activities.
1-19                 (2)  "Athletic trainer [Trainer]" means a person with
1-20     specific qualifications, as set forth in Section 9 of this Act, who
1-21     practices athletic training, is licensed by the board, and may use
1-22     the initials "LAT," "LATC," and "AT" to designate the person as an
1-23     athletic trainer.  The terms "sports trainer" and "licensed
1-24     athletic trainer" are equivalent to "athletic trainer."
1-25                 (3)  "Athletic training" means the form of health care
1-26     that includes the practice of preventing, recognizing, assessing,
1-27     managing, treating, disposing of, and reconditioning athletic
1-28     injuries under the direction of a physician licensed in this state
1-29     or another qualified, licensed health professional who is
1-30     authorized to refer for health care services within the scope of
1-31     the person's license[, upon the advice and consent of his team
1-32     physician carries out the practice of prevention and/or physical
1-33     rehabilitation of injuries incurred by athletes.  To carry out
1-34     these functions the Athletic trainer is authorized to use physical
1-35     modalities such as heat, light, sound, cold, electricity, or
1-36     mechanical devices related to rehabilitation and treatment].
1-37                 (4) [(2)]  "Board" means the Advisory Board of Athletic
1-38     Trainers.
1-39                 (5)  "Commissioner" means the commissioner of public
1-40     health.
1-41                 (6)  "Department" means the Texas Department of Health.
1-42           (b) [(3)]  Nothing herein shall be construed to authorize the
1-43     practice of medicine by any person not licensed by the Texas State
1-44     Board of Medical Examiners.
1-45           (c) [(4)]  The provisions of this Act [act] do not apply to:
1-46                 (1)  physicians licensed by the Texas State Board of
1-47     Medical Examiners;
1-48                 (2)  [to] dentists, duly qualified and registered under
1-49     the laws of this state, who confine their practice strictly to
1-50     dentistry;
1-51                 (3)  [nor to] licensed optometrists and therapeutic
1-52     optometrists[,] who confine their practice strictly to optometry or
1-53     therapeutic optometry as defined by statute;
1-54                 (4)  [nor to] occupational therapists[,] who confine
1-55     their practice to occupational therapy;
1-56                 (5)  [nor to] nurses who practice nursing only;
1-57                 (6)  [nor to duly] licensed [chiropodists or]
1-58     podiatrists[,] who confine their practice strictly to [chiropody
1-59     or] podiatry as defined by statute;
1-60                 (7)  [nor to] physical therapists who confine their
1-61     practice to physical therapy;
1-62                 (8)  registered massage therapists [nor to masseurs or
1-63     masseuses in their particular sphere of labor]; or
1-64                 (9)  [nor to] commissioned or contract physicians or
 2-1     physical therapists or physical therapists assistants in the United
 2-2     States Army, Navy, Air Force, Public Health and Marine Health
 2-3     Service.
 2-4           (d)  This Act does not apply to an athletic trainer who does
 2-5     not live in this state, who is licensed, registered, or certified
 2-6     by an authority recognized by the board, and who provides athletic
 2-7     training in this state for a period determined by the board.
 2-8           SECTION 2.  Section 12, Chapter 498, Acts of the 62nd
 2-9     Legislature, Regular Session, 1971 (Article 4512d, Vernon's Texas
2-10     Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
2-11           Sec. 12.  GROUNDS FOR DENIAL, SUSPENSION, OR REVOCATION OF
2-12     LICENSE.  The board may refuse to issue a license to an applicant
2-13     or may suspend or revoke the license of any licensee if the
2-14     applicant or licensee [he] has:
2-15                 (1)  been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor
2-16     involving moral turpitude, the record of conviction being
2-17     conclusive evidence of conviction; [or]
2-18                 (2)  secured the license by fraud or deceit; [or]
2-19                 (3)  violated or conspired to violate the provisions of
2-20     this Act or rules and regulations issued pursuant to this Act; or
2-21                 (4)  provided services outside the scope of practice of
2-22     athletic training.
2-23           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-24           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-25     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-26     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-27     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-28     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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