1-1     By:  Bernsen                                          S.B. No. 1106
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 6, 2001; March 7, 2001, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Health and Human Services;
 1-4     April 9, 2001, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 7,
 1-5     Nays 0; April 9, 2001, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the application of the Medical Liability and Insurance
 1-9     Improvement Act of Texas to optometrists and therapeutic
1-10     optometrists.
1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12           SECTION 1.  Subdivision (3), Subsection (a), Section 1.03,
1-13     Medical Liability and Insurance Improvement Act of Texas (Article
1-14     4590i, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as
1-15     follows:
1-16                 (3)  "Health care provider" means any person,
1-17     partnership, professional association, corporation, facility, or
1-18     institution duly licensed or chartered by the State of Texas to
1-19     provide health care as a registered nurse, hospital, dentist,
1-20     podiatrist, pharmacist, optometrist or therapeutic optometrist, or
1-21     nursing home, or an officer, employee, or agent thereof acting in
1-22     the course and scope of his employment.
1-23           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001, and
1-24     applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or after that
1-25     date.  A cause of action that accrued before the effective date of
1-26     this Act is governed by the law applicable to the action
1-27     immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is
1-28     continued in effect for that purpose.
1-29                                  * * * * *