By Coleman H.B. No. 1349
Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the mission, responsibilities, and duties of the Texas
1-3 Department of Health to eliminate health and health access
1-4 disparities in Texas.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Amend Health and Safety Code, Sections 11.002,
1-7 11.004 and 11.0045 to read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 11.002. PURPOSE OF BOARD AND DEPARTMENT. The Texas
1-9 Board of Health and the Texas Department of Health are established
1-10 to better protect and promote the health of the people of this
1-11 state as well as to eliminate health and health access disparities.
1-12 Sec. 11.004. COMPOSITION AND RESPONSIBILITY OF DEPARTMENT.
1-13 (a) The department is composed of the board, the commissioner and
1-14 administrative staff, the Texas Center for Infectious Disease, the
1-15 South Texas Hospital, and other officers and employees necessary to
1-16 perform efficiently its powers and duties.
1-17 (b) The department is the state agency with primary
1-18 responsibility for providing health services, including:
1-19 (1) disease prevention;
1-20 (2) health promotion;
1-21 (3) indigent health care;
1-22 (4) certain acute care services;
2-1 (5) health care facility regulation, excluding
2-2 long-term care facilities;
2-3 (6) licensing of certain health professions; [and]
2-4 (7) other health-related services as provided by
2-5 law[.]; and
2-6 (8) eliminating health and health access disparities.
2-7 Sec. 11.0045. COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL PLAN.
2-8 (a) The board shall develop, publish, and to the extent allowed by
2-9 law implement a comprehensive strategic and operational plan.
2-10 (b) The board shall publish the plan not later than
2-11 September 1 of each even-numbered year. The board shall at a
2-12 minimum:
2-13 (1) make the plan available on its generally
2-14 accessible Internet site;
2-15 (2) make printed copies of the plan available on
2-16 request to members of the public; and
2-17 (3) send printed copies of the plan to the governor,
2-18 the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house of
2-19 representatives, the Legislative Budget Board, and the committees
2-20 of the senate and the house of representatives that have oversight
2-21 responsibilities regarding the board and the department.
2-22 (c) The plan at a minimum must include:
2-23 (1) a statement of the aim and purpose of each of the
2-24 department's missions, including:
2-25 (A) the prevention of disease;
2-26 (B) the promotion of health;
3-1 (C) the indigent health care;
3-2 (D) the protection of parents' fundamental right
3-3 to direct the health care and general upbringing of their children;
3-4 (E) acute care services for which the department
3-5 is responsible;
3-6 (F) health care facility regulation for which
3-7 the department is responsible;
3-8 (G) the licensing of health professions for
3-9 which the department is responsible; [and]
3-10 (H) all other health-related services for which
3-11 the department is responsible under law[.]; and
3-12 (I) the elimination of health and health access
3-13 disparities.
3-14 (2) an analysis regarding how each of the department's
3-15 missions relate to other department missions;
3-16 (3) a detailed analysis of how to integrate or
3-17 continue to integrate department programs with other departmental
3-18 programs, including the integration of information gathering and
3-19 information management within and across programs, for the purpose
3-20 of minimizing duplication of effort, increasing administrative
3-21 efficiency, simplifying access to department programs, and more
3-22 efficiently meeting the health needs of this state;
3-23 (4) a detailed proposal to integrate or continue to
3-24 integrate department programs with other department programs during
3-25 the two-year period covered by the plan, to the extent allowed by
3-26 law and in accordance with the department's analysis;
4-1 (5) a determination regarding whether it is necessary
4-2 to collect each type of information that the department collects,
4-3 and for each type of information that it is necessary for the
4-4 department to collect, whether the department is efficiently and
4-5 effectively collecting, analyzing, and disseminating the
4-6 information and protecting the privacy of individuals;
4-7 (6) an assessment of services provided by the
4-8 department that evaluates the need for the department to provide
4-9 those services in the future;
4-10 (7) a method for soliciting the advice and opinions of
4-11 local health departments, hospital districts, and other public
4-12 health entities, of recipients and providers of services that are
4-13 related to the department's missions, and of advocates for
4-14 recipients or providers for the purpose of identifying and
4-15 assessing:
4-16 (A) the health-related needs of the state;
4-17 (B) ways in which the department's programs and
4-18 information services can be better integrated and coordinated; and
4-19 (C) factors that the department should consider
4-20 before adopting rules that affect recipients or providers of
4-21 services that are related to the department's missions;
4-22 (8) a comprehensive inventory of health-related
4-23 information resources that meet department criteria for usefulness
4-24 and applicability to local health departments, to recipients or
4-25 providers of services that are related to the department's
4-26 missions, and to nonprofit entities, private businesses, and
5-1 community groups with missions that are related to health;
5-2 (9) a statement regarding the ways in which the
5-3 department will coordinate or attempt to coordinate with federal,
5-4 state, local, and private programs that provide services similar to
5-5 the services provided by the department;
5-6 (10) a list of other plans that the department is
5-7 required to prepare under state law and a recommendation regarding
5-8 which plans are obsolete or duplicate other required department
5-9 plans; [and]
5-10 (11) an assessment of the extent to which previous
5-11 plans prepared by the department under this section have
5-12 effectively helped the department to identify and achieve its
5-13 objectives, to improve its operations, or to guide persons who need
5-14 to identify department services, identify department requirements,
5-15 or communicate effectively with department personnel[.]; and
5-16 (12) a statement regarding the ways the department
5-17 intends to reorient existing programs towards eliminating health
5-18 and health access disparities.
5-19 SECTION 2. Amend Health and Safety Code, Sec. 12.081, to
5-20 read as follows:
5-21 Sec. 12.081. OFFICE OF MINORITY HEALTH. The department shall
5-22 establish and maintain an office of minority health in the
5-23 department to:
5-24 (1) assume a leadership role in working on contracting
5-25 with state and federal agencies, universities, private interest
5-26 groups, communities, foundations, and offices of minority health to
6-1 develop minority health initiatives, including bilingual
6-2 communications; [and]
6-3 (2) develop strategies to reorient existing programs
6-4 towards eliminating health and health access disparities; and
6-5 [(2)] (3) maximize use of existing resources without
6-6 duplicating existing efforts.
6-7 SECTION 3. This legislation takes effect immediately if it
6-8 receives a vote of two-thirds of all members elected to each house,
6-9 as provided by Section 29, Article III, Texas Constitution. If
6-10 this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect,
6-11 this Act takes effect September 1, 2001.