1-1     By:  Zaffirini                                        S.B. No. 1293
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 11, 1999; March 15, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Human Services;
 1-4     March 17, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 5,
 1-5     Nays 0; March 17, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to permits to administer medication to residents of
 1-9     nursing and convalescent homes and certain related institutions.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 242.610, Health and Safety Code, is
1-12     amended by amending Subsection (e) and adding Subsection (g) to
1-13     read as follows:
1-14           (e)  Except as provided by Subsection (g), a [A] permit is
1-15     valid for one year and is not transferable.
1-16           (g)  The department may shorten the term of a permit to
1-17     provide for the staggered renewal of permits.  If a permit is
1-18     issued for a term that is less than one year, the fee assessed
1-19     under Section 242.611 must be prorated appropriately.
1-20           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-21     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-22     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-23     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-24     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-25     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-26     passage, and it is so enacted.
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