1-1     By:  Lucio                                            S.B. No. 1614
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 12, 1999; March 15, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Health Services;
 1-4     April 21, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 4,
 1-5     Nays 0; April 21, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the long-range plan for the South Texas Hospital and
 1-9     the provision of tuberculosis and other health care services in the
1-10     Lower Rio Grande Valley.
1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12           SECTION 1.  CONSTRUCTION OF NEW PHYSICAL FACILITY FOR
1-13     OUTPATIENT HEALTH CARE SERVICES.  (a)  The Texas Department of
1-14     Health shall contract for the construction of a new physical
1-15     facility for outpatient health care services out of funds
1-16     appropriated to the department for that purpose.  The physical
1-17     facility must be:
1-18                 (1)  located at the site of the South Texas Hospital;
1-19     or
1-20                 (2)  colocated with the Regional Academic Health Center
1-21     at a common site in Harlingen, Texas, and adjacent to the center.
1-22           (b)  The contract under this section must specify that the
1-23     physical facility be designed and constructed to allow for the
1-24     provision of all outpatient health care services, including
1-25     outpatient tuberculosis services, provided at the South Texas
1-26     Hospital on the effective date of this Act.
1-27           (c)  If the physical facility constructed under Subsection
1-28     (a) of this section is colocated with the Regional Academic Health
1-29     Center, the contract under this section must specify that, to the
1-30     maximum extent possible, that facility and the Regional Academic
1-31     Health Center must be designed and constructed together to realize
1-32     potential savings in construction costs and long-term maintenance
1-33     and operations costs by using common central utility plants,
1-34     cafeterias, laundry facilities, maintenance facilities, and other
1-35     support facilities.  The board of regents of The University of
1-36     Texas System shall cooperate with the Texas Department of Health to
1-37     coordinate the structure and design of the physical facilities of
1-38     the facility constructed under Subsection (a) of this section and
1-39     the Regional Academic Health Center to achieve a maximally
1-40     efficient use of resources.
1-41           SECTION 2.  OUTPATIENT HEALTH CARE SERVICES.  (a)  On
1-42     completion of a new physical facility required by Section 1 of this
1-43     Act, the provision of all outpatient health care services,
1-44     including outpatient tuberculosis services, provided by the South
1-45     Texas Hospital on the effective date of this Act shall be
1-46     transferred to the new physical facility.
1-47           (b)  The Texas Department of Health may contract with a
1-48     political subdivision for the management and operation of the
1-49     physical facility constructed under Section 1 of this Act and for
1-50     the provision of outpatient health care services at the facility.
1-51           SECTION 3.  INPATIENT HEALTH CARE AND LABORATORY SERVICES.
1-52     (a)  Out of funds appropriated to the Texas Department of Health to
1-53     provide inpatient health care services, the department shall
1-54     contract with any public or private health care provider or entity
1-55     for the provision of inpatient health care services, including
1-56     inpatient tuberculosis services, and laboratory services provided
1-57     by the South Texas Hospital on the effective date of this Act.
1-58           (b)  After entering into contracts required by Subsection (a)
1-59     of this section, the South Texas Hospital shall cease to provide
1-60     inpatient health care services.
1-61           SECTION 4.  INTERIM RENOVATION OF PHYSICAL FACILITIES OF THE
1-62     SOUTH TEXAS HOSPITAL.  Out of funds appropriated to the department
1-63     for the purpose of this section, the Texas Department of Health
1-64     shall contract for minimum necessary structural and design
 2-1     renovations to the physical facilities of the South Texas Hospital
 2-2     required for reaccreditation during 1999 by the Joint Commission on
 2-3     Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, required for compliance
 2-4     with Texas Accessibility Standards and the federal Americans with
 2-5     Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. Section 12101 et seq.), as
 2-6     amended, and required for the continued operation of the South
 2-7     Texas Hospital to provide outpatient health care services until
 2-8     construction of a new physical facility for the provision of those
 2-9     services is completed.
2-10           SECTION 5.  FUTURE OF THE SOUTH TEXAS HOSPITAL.  (a)  The
2-11     South Texas Hospital shall close after:
2-12                 (1)  the person with whom the Texas Department of
2-13     Health has contracted for the provision of inpatient health care
2-14     and laboratory services under Section 3 of this Act has begun
2-15     providing those services; and
2-16                 (2)  the provision of outpatient health care services
2-17     is transferred to a new physical facility as required by Section 2
2-18     of this Act.
2-19           (b)  The Texas Board of Health and the General Services
2-20     Commission shall collaborate to prepare leasing and other options
2-21     for potential future uses of the physical facilities of the South
2-22     Texas Hospital.
2-23           SECTION 6.  CONTINUATION OF SUPPORT SERVICES.  (a)  If the
2-24     new physical facility constructed as required by Section 1 of this
2-25     Act is colocated with the Regional Academic Health Center, the
2-26     Texas Department of Health and the Texas Department of Mental
2-27     Health and Mental Retardation shall enter into an interagency
2-28     contract to provide for the continuation of support services for
2-29     the facility operated by the Texas Department of Mental Health and
2-30     Mental Retardation that is colocated with the South Texas Hospital.
2-31           (b)  The contract may include a provision requiring the Texas
2-32     Department of Health to continue providing employees for support
2-33     facilities at the site.
2-34           SECTION 7.  DISPLACED EMPLOYEES OF THE SOUTH TEXAS HOSPITAL.
2-35     (a)  To the extent possible out of available funds appropriated to
2-36     the Texas Department of Health, the department shall reassign a
2-37     member of the employee class of the department who is employed at
2-38     the South Texas Hospital and whose position is displaced as a
2-39     result of a contract entered into by the Texas Department of Health
2-40     under this Act or the closing of the South Texas Hospital to an
2-41     open position within the department for which the member is
2-42     qualified.
2-43           (b)  A contract awarded by the Texas Department of Health
2-44     under this Act must include a provision that, to the maximum extent
2-45     possible as determined by the contracting entity, the contracting
2-46     entity shall offer an employee of the South Texas Hospital whose
2-47     position is displaced as a result of the contract a similar
2-48     employment position with the contracting entity.
2-49           SECTION 8.  TIME FRAME.  Not later than September 1, 2000,
2-50     the Texas Department of Health shall enter into the contracts
2-51     required by this Act.
2-52           SECTION 9.  AMENDMENT.  Subchapter B, Chapter 814, Government
2-53     Code, is amended by adding Section 814.1043 to read as follows:
2-54           Sec. 814.1043.  TEMPORARY SERVICE RETIREMENT OPTION FOR
2-55     MEMBERS AFFECTED BY THE TRANSFER OF SERVICES FROM THE SOUTH TEXAS
2-56     HOSPITAL.  (a)  This section applies only to members of the
2-57     employee class whose positions with the Texas Department of Health
2-58     at the South Texas Hospital are eliminated as a result of contracts
2-59     with public or private health care providers or entities or as a
2-60     result of the closing of the South Texas Hospital and who separate
2-61     from state service at that time.
2-62           (b)  A member described by Subsection (a) is eligible to
2-63     retire and receive a service retirement annuity if the member's age
2-64     and service credit, each increased by three years, would meet age
2-65     and service requirements for service retirement under Section
2-66     814.104(a) at the time the member separates from state service as
2-67     described by Subsection (a).  The annuity of a person who retires
2-68     under this subsection is computed on the person's accrued service
2-69     credit increased by three years.
 3-1           (c)  A member described by Subsection (a) becomes eligible to
 3-2     retire and receive a service retirement annuity on the date on
 3-3     which the member would have met the age and service requirements
 3-4     for service retirement under Section 814.104(a) had the member
 3-5     remained employed by the state if, on the date of separation from
 3-6     state service, the member's age and service credit, each increased
 3-7     by five years, would meet age and service requirements for service
 3-8     retirement under Section 814.104(a).  The annuity of a person who
 3-9     retires under this subsection is computed on the person's accrued
3-10     service credit.
3-11           (d)  If a member described by Subsection (c) is reemployed by
3-12     the state before retirement, the time between the member's
3-13     separation from state service and reemployment may be used only to
3-14     compute eligibility for service retirement and may not be used to
3-15     compute the amount of any service retirement annuity.
3-16           (e)  A member who applies to retire under this section and
3-17     the Texas Department of Health shall provide documentation required
3-18     by the retirement system to establish eligibility to retire under
3-19     this section.
3-20           (f)  This section applies only to positions eliminated on or
3-21     after the effective date of this section as a result of:
3-22                 (1)  a contract with a public or private health care
3-23     provider or entity entered into on or before September 1, 2000; or
3-24                 (2)  the closing of the South Texas Hospital.
3-25           SECTION 10.  SCHEDULE.  Not later than September 1, 2000, the
3-26     Texas Department of Health shall enter into the contracts required
3-27     by this Act.
3-28           SECTION 11.  EMERGENCY.  The importance of this legislation
3-29     and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-30     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-31     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-32     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-33     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-34     passage, and it is so enacted.
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