H.B. 3174 78(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


H.B. 3174
By: Pitts
Public Health
Committee Report (Unamended)
    
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 
The current statute governing the cosmetology industry requires an
applicant for a cosmetology license to submit, as part of their licensure
application, a health certificate signed by medical staff indicating that
the applicant is free of tuberculosis or contagious diseases.  This health
certificate requirement applies to both new and renewal license
applications.  The bill would repeal this requirement for both new and
renewal licenses. The purpose of the bill is to remove a requirement that
serves a minimal health-related purpose and prevents the agency from using
Texas on-line productively for license renewals.   

With respect to its health-related function, the Disease Control and
Prevention Bureau of the Texas Department of Health has indicated that the
health certificate requirement is sufficiently antiquated as to be
removable without jeopardizing the public health.  In the first place, no
doctor can credibly sign the health certificate since that would require
testing the applicant for all known infectious diseases--a formidable and
expensive undertaking that is not attempted by doctors currently.  Second,
most chronic infectious diseases are not transferred by the respiratory
route, which is the only avenue available to transmit a disease to a
person who is merely having a haircut.  Third, most infectious diseases
are of the minor and temporary sort (e.g., cold, flu) and cannot be
protected against through requiring cosmetologists to submit to a health
examination every two years.  Finally, with respect to untreated pulmonary
tuberculosis, the Texas Department of Health notes that the prevalence of
such conditions in the beauty industry is expected to be quite low and
does not warrant some type of occupation-specific screening.  No other
licensee population is subject to such health certificate requirements.  

While serving little health-related function, the health certificate
requirement serves as a burdensome documentation requirement that prevents
licensees from making productive use of TexasOnline to renew their
license.  The Texas Cosmetology Commission currently processes over 90,000
new and renewal applications annually.  The Legislature presumably created
TexasOnline with the intent of automating the licensing process as much as
possible and enabling licensees to receive their license as soon as
possible.  However, even if a cosmetology licensee submits a renewal form
on-line, they must still mail in a health certificate before they can
obtain their license, resulting in much confusion and unneeded time spent
by our licensing staff to manually process additional documentation and
correspond with licensees who have failed to deliver their certificate.
Texas On-line was created to alleviate this burden.  However, the health
certificate requirement prevents the agency and the industry from
benefiting from these technological advances.  Since Texas On-line has
been operating, less than 700 cosmetology licensees out of 50,000
licensees who have renewed their license during that time have renewed
on-line. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any
additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or
institution. 

ANALYSIS
Repeals Section 1601.253, Occupations Code, which currently requires an
applicant for a new cosmetology license to submit a certificate of health
that shows the applicant to be free from tuberculosis or any contagious
disease.  Repeals Section 1602.353, Occupations Code, which contains the
health certificate requirement for renewal applicants. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2003