AN ACT
1-1 relating to health benefits plan coverage for dependent children of
1-2 certain employees paid by state appropriated money.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. The Texas Employees Uniform Group Insurance
1-5 Benefits Act (Article 3.50-2, Vernon's Texas Insurance Code) is
1-6 amended by adding Section 14A to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 14A. COVERAGE FOR DEPENDENT CHILDREN OF CERTAIN
1-8 EMPLOYEES. (a) Subject to any applicable limit in the General
1-9 Appropriations Act, the trustee shall use money appropriated for
1-10 employer contributions to fund 80 percent of the cost of basic
1-11 coverage for a child who:
1-12 (1) is a dependent of an employee;
1-13 (2) would be eligible, if the child were not the
1-14 dependent of the employee, for benefits under the program
1-15 established by this state to implement Title XXI of the Social
1-16 Security Act (42 U.S.C. Section 1397aa et seq.), as amended; and
1-17 (3) is not eligible for the state Medicaid program.
1-18 (b) The trustee shall notify employees that they may be
1-19 eligible for dependent child coverage under Subsection (a) of this
1-20 section and notify the employee that:
1-21 (1) the employee may be eligible for dependent child
1-22 coverage under Subsection (a) of this section; and
1-23 (2) the employee may apply for the coverage as
1-24 provided by Subsection (c) of this section.
2-1 (c) An employee who desires dependent child coverage under
2-2 this section shall apply to the Texas Department of Human Services
2-3 or other agency designated by the Health and Human Services
2-4 Commission to perform eligibility screening under this section.
2-5 The eligibility screening shall be coordinated with eligibility
2-6 screening for the state Medicaid program. The agency that performs
2-7 the eligibility screening shall certify to the trustee in writing
2-8 whether a child is eligible for dependent child coverage under
2-9 Subsection (a) of this section.
2-10 (d) If an employee does not obtain dependent child coverage
2-11 under this section at the time the employee is initially employed,
2-12 the employee may apply for the coverage during the annual open
2-13 enrollment period applicable to the employee's coverage under this
2-14 Act. The trustee may:
2-15 (1) continue the coverage until the next annual open
2-16 enrollment period applicable to the employee's coverage, without
2-17 regard to any change in status of the child; or
2-18 (2) adopt rules requiring an employee, during the
2-19 period the coverage is in effect, to report a change in status that
2-20 would make the dependent child ineligible for coverage and may
2-21 terminate the coverage on receipt of the report of a change in
2-22 status.
2-23 (e) The trustee may require an employee to re-apply for
2-24 dependent child coverage under this section during each annual open
2-25 enrollment period applicable to the employee's coverage. The
2-26 trustee and the Texas Department of Human Services or other agency
3-1 designated by the Health and Human Services Commission to perform
3-2 eligibility screening under this section shall cooperate to develop
3-3 a cost-effective method for annual re-evaluation of eligibility
3-4 determinations for dependent child coverage under this section.
3-5 (f) Notwithstanding Subsection (a) of this section, the
3-6 trustee may pay a higher percentage of the cost of basic coverage
3-7 for a child described by Subsection (a) of this section if money
3-8 becomes available for that purpose.
3-9 (g) If the program established under Chapter 62, Health and
3-10 Safety Code, which utilizes federal funding under Title XXI of the
3-11 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Section 1397aa et seq.), as amended,
3-12 is terminated, state contributions for benefits for those eligible
3-13 under Subsection (a) of this section shall terminate as well.
3-14 SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 15, Texas Employees
3-15 Uniform Group Insurance Benefits Act (Article 3.50-2, Vernon's
3-16 Texas Insurance Code), is amended to read as follows:
3-17 (b) The state shall contribute to the cost of each
3-18 employee's individual and dependent group coverages the amounts
3-19 appropriated for the coverages in the General Appropriations Act.
3-20 The state may contribute a greater amount for coverage for
3-21 dependent children described by Section 14A(a) of this Act than the
3-22 state contributes for group coverages for other dependent children.
3-23 The governing board of each state department and institution of
3-24 higher education participating in the program established under
3-25 this Act shall pay the trustee a like amount for each employee's
3-26 individual or dependent group coverages for their employees who
4-1 are, and retirees who were, compensated from funds not appropriated
4-2 in the General Appropriations Act. The departments and
4-3 institutions shall include the required contributions from funds
4-4 not appropriated in the General Appropriations Act in their annual
4-5 operating budgets. Each state department and institution of higher
4-6 education participating in the program shall assure current
4-7 participant coverages based on the records of the trustee, make
4-8 timely payments of amounts due the trustee from all fund sources
4-9 under the control of the department or institution, and reconcile
4-10 trustee and agency records of coverages and payments monthly.
4-11 There is hereby allocated to the trustee, in accordance with the
4-12 provisions of this Act, from the several funds from which employees
4-13 receive their respective salaries, a sum equal to the total of all
4-14 employer contributions computed in accordance with the provisions
4-15 of this Act and the rules and regulations of the trustee
4-16 promulgated pursuant thereto.
4-17 SECTION 3. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
4-18 (b) Section 14A, Texas Employees Uniform Group Insurance
4-19 Benefits Act (Article 3.50-2, Vernon's Texas Insurance Code), as
4-20 added by this Act, does not apply to the purchase of basic coverage
4-21 for a dependent child by the trustee of the group benefits program
4-22 established under the Texas Employees Uniform Group Insurance
4-23 Benefits Act (Article 3.50-2, Vernon's Texas Insurance Code),
4-24 before fiscal year 2001.
4-25 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-26 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-1 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-2 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-3 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1351 passed the Senate on
April 22, 1999, by a viva-voce vote; and that the Senate concurred
in House amendments on May 25, 1999, by a viva-voce vote.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1351 passed the House, with
amendments, on May 22, 1999, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
_______________________________
Date
_______________________________
Governor