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By: Eiland, et al. H.B. No. 918
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of certain counties to implement a pilot
program to provide certain indigent health care services and to the
funding of the program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 324, Tax Code, is amended
by adding Section 324.002 to read as follows:
Sec. 324.002. APPLICATION OF CERTAIN PROVISIONS TO CERTAIN
COUNTIES. Sections 324.021, 324.022, 324.061, and 324.081 do not
apply to a county that implements an indigent health care pilot
program and adopts a sales and use tax under Subchapter E.
SECTION 2. Chapter 324, Tax Code, is amended by adding
Subchapter E to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER E. INDIGENT HEALTH CARE PILOT PROGRAM
Sec. 324.101. APPLICATION. This subchapter applies only to
a county:
(1) with a population of more than 190,000;
(2) in which a hospital district is not located; and
(3) in which a public medical school or health science
center is located.
Sec. 324.102. PILOT PROGRAM FOR INDIGENT HEALTH CARE. (a)
The commissioners court of a county may implement a pilot program in
the county to provide:
(1) secondary and tertiary level services for
residents of the county whose family income is not greater than 100
percent of the federal poverty level; and
(2) primary level services for residents of the county
whose family income is not greater than 200 percent of the federal
poverty level.
(b) The services the county provides must include:
(1) primary and preventive medical services a county
is required or authorized to provide under Chapter 61, Health and
Safety Code; and
(2) secondary or tertiary services the state provides
as part of the medical assistance program under Chapter 32, Human
Resources Code.
(c) As part of the pilot program, the county may provide for
case management services, utilization review, patient outreach
services, patient education, and patient transportation.
(d) The county shall prescribe appropriate goals and
performance measures for the program.
(e) The county may implement the pilot program only if:
(1) the voters of the county approve imposition of a
sales and use tax under Section 324.103; or
(2) funding for the program is available under Section
324.107.
Sec. 324.103. SALES AND USE TAX. (a) A county may adopt or
abolish a sales and use tax authorized by this subchapter to provide
funding for an indigent health care pilot program if imposition of
the tax is approved at an election called and held for that purpose
as provided by Section 324.104.
(b) The tax authorized by this subchapter may be imposed in
increments of one-eighth of one percent, with a minimum tax rate of
one-eighth of one percent and a maximum tax rate of one percent.
(c) Sections 323.101(b), (d), and (e) do not apply to the
tax imposed under this subchapter.
Sec. 324.104. ELECTION PROCEDURE. (a) The commissioners
court of the county may call an election to adopt or abolish the tax
under this subchapter. The commissioners court shall call an
election to adopt or abolish the tax if it receives a petition
signed by a number of petitioners equal to at least five percent of
the number of registered voters in the county.
(b) At the election to adopt the tax, the ballot shall be
prepared to permit voting for or against the proposition: "The
adoption of a local sales and use tax in (name of county) at the rate
of ______ (insert rate) to provide revenue for an indigent health
care pilot program."
(c) At the election to abolish the tax, the ballot shall be
prepared to permit voting for or against the proposition: "The
abolishment of the local indigent health care pilot program sales
and use tax in (name of county)."
Sec. 324.105. REAUTHORIZATION OF PILOT PROGRAM AND TAX. (a)
Unless the imposition of the sales and use tax authorized by this
subchapter is reauthorized as provided by this section, the tax and
the pilot program expire on the sixth anniversary of the date the
tax originally took effect.
(b) An election to reauthorize the tax is called and held in
the same manner as an election to adopt the tax under Section
324.104, except the ballot proposition shall be prepared to permit
voting for or against the proposition: "The reauthorization of the
local sales and use tax in (name of county) at the rate of ______
(insert rate) to continue providing revenue for indigent health
care."
(c) If an election to reauthorize the tax is not held before
the tax expires as provided by Subsection (a), or if a majority of
the votes cast in an election to reauthorize the tax do not favor
reauthorization, the county may not call an election on the
question of authorizing a new tax under this subchapter before the
first anniversary of the date on which the tax expired.
(d) Not later than the 10th day after the date the county
determines that the tax will expire as provided by Subsection (a),
the county shall notify the comptroller of the scheduled
expiration. The comptroller may delay the scheduled expiration date
if the comptroller notifies the county that more time is required.
The comptroller must provide a new expiration date that is not
later than the last day of the first calendar quarter occurring
after the notification to the comptroller.
Sec. 324.106. EFFECT OF STATE TAX RATE INCREASE.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, if the rate
of the state sales and use tax imposed under Chapter 151 is
increased over the rate of the tax on January 1, 2003, the rate of a
tax imposed under this subchapter is automatically decreased on the
date the state rate increase takes effect to the highest rate that
will not result in a tax rate of more than 7-1/4 percent when the
state sales and use tax and a tax imposed under this subchapter are
combined.
Sec. 324.107. SUSPENSION OF TAX UNDER CERTAIN
CIRCUMSTANCES. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this
subchapter, a county shall suspend collection of the tax imposed
under this subchapter during any state fiscal year for which the
state legislature appropriates at least $6 million to fund the
indigent health care pilot program in that county.
(b) The county shall notify the comptroller if the tax will
be suspended under this section. The suspension takes effect on the
first day of the fiscal year for which the legislature appropriates
money and ends on the last day of that fiscal year.
Sec. 324.108. STATE AUDITOR REVIEW. The state auditor may
review a pilot program created under this subchapter and report the
auditor's findings to the legislature. The review must be based on
risk assessment and is subject to the legislative audit committee's
approval of including the work described by this section in the
audit plan under Section 321.013(c), Government Code.
Sec. 324.109. USE OF TAX REVENUE. Revenue from the tax
imposed under this subchapter may be used only to provide funding
for an indigent health care pilot program created by the county as
provided by this subchapter.
Sec. 324.110. EXPIRATION. This subchapter expires
September 1, 2009.
SECTION 3. Chapter 26, Tax Code, is amended by adding
Section 26.0435 to read as follows:
Sec. 26.0435. EFFECTIVE TAX RATE IN COUNTY IMPOSING
INDIGENT HEALTH CARE PILOT PROGRAM SALES AND USE TAX. (a) Except as
provided by Subsection (b), in the tax year in which a county has
set an election on the question of whether to impose a local sales
and use tax under Subchapter E, Chapter 324, the officer or employee
designated to make the calculations provided by Section 26.04 may
not make those calculations until the outcome of the election is
determined. If the election is determined in favor of the
imposition of the tax, the representative shall subtract from the
county's rollback and effective tax rates the amount that, if
applied to the county's current total value, would impose an amount
equal to 50 percent of the amount the county spent on health care
services under Sections 61.028 and 61.0285, Health and Safety Code,
during the previous tax year, as reported to the Texas Department of
Health under Section 61.041, Health and Safety Code.
(b) If the election to impose the local sales and use tax
under Subchapter E, Chapter 324, is scheduled to be held after
October 1, the county shall apply the provisions of Subsection (a)
during the next tax year.
(c) In a tax year to which this section applies, a reference
in this chapter to the county's effective or rollback tax rate
refers to that rate as adjusted under this section.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.