1-1     By:  Nelson                                           S.B. No. 1235
 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 use of a medical practitioner's Federal Drug
 1-9     Enforcement Administration number; creating an offense.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 481.003, Health and Safety Code, is
1-12     amended to read as follows:
1-13           Sec. 481.003.  RULES.  (a)  The director may adopt rules to
1-14     administer and enforce this chapter.
1-15           (b)  The director by rule shall prohibit a person in this
1-16     state, including a person regulated by the Texas Department of
1-17     Insurance under the Insurance Code or the other insurance laws of
1-18     this state, from using a practitioner's Federal Drug Enforcement
1-19     Administration number for a purpose other than a purpose described
1-20     by federal law or by this chapter.  A person who violates a rule
1-21     adopted under this subsection commits a Class C misdemeanor.
1-22           SECTION 2.  The director of the Department of Public Safety
1-23     of the State of Texas shall adopt the rules required by Section
1-24     481.003, Health and Safety Code, as amended by this Act, not later
1-25     than January 1, 2000.
1-26           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-27           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-28     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-29     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-30     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-31     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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