S.B. 826 78(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


S.B. 826
By: Whitmire
Criminal Jurisprudence
Committee Report (Unamended)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, Chapter 49 of the Code of Criminal Procedure requires
superintendents or general managers of health-care institutions, including
nursing homes, extended-care facilities, and retirement homes, to notify
the local justice of the peace if a person residing in that institution
dies and there is not an attending physician or that physician is not able
to certify the cause of death. However, there is not a similar requirement
that such notice be given to the attorney general, who investigates
Medicaid fraud. As a consequence, evidence that may be relevant to a
determination of possible Medicaid fraud could well be lost to state
investigators.  

In addition, under current law police departments and correctional
facilities are required to report the death of persons in the custody of a
police officer or housed in a correctional facility. However, current law
does not address a situation whereby a person dies as a result of a police
officer's use of force or in a juvenile correctional facility. Senate Bill
826 requires health-care institutions, police departments, and adult and
juvenile correctional facilities to report the death of individuals in
their care or due to use of force to the attorney general.  

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

Senate Bill 826 amends the Criminal Procedure and Penal codes relating to
the reporting of deaths of certain individuals. The bill requires a
superintendent or general manager of a health-care institution to notify
the attorney general within 24 hours of the death of an individual under
the care of the institution and to submit a report relating the facts of
the death within 72 hours. Furthermore, a superintendent or general
manager who neglects these duties commits a Class B misdemeanor offense.
The bill also authorizes the attorney general to investigate deaths of
individuals  reported by an institution that receives payments under the
medical assistance program. In addition, the bill requires police
departments to report the death of an individual that results from a use
of force by a police officer and correctional facilities, whether adult or
juvenile, to report the death of individuals in it's care to the attorney
general.  

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2003.