By:  Zaffirini                                                    S.B. No. 923


A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to criminal history checks of certain employees and 
applicants for employment in nursing homes and assisted living 
facilities and to the period within which a nursing home or assisted 
living facility must request certain criminal history checks.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Subsections (a) and (b), Section 250.003, Health 
and Safety Code, are amended to read as follows:
	(a)  A facility may not employ a person if the facility 
determines, as a result of a criminal history check, that a person 
has been convicted of an offense listed in this chapter that bars 
employment or that a conviction is a contraindication to employment 
with the consumers the facility serves, and if the applicant is a 
nurse aide, until the facility further verifies that the applicant 
is listed in the nurse aide registry and verifies that the applicant 
is not designated in the registry as having a finding entered into 
the registry concerning abuse, neglect, or mistreatment of a 
consumer of a facility, or misappropriation of a consumer's 
property.  Except for an applicant for employment at or an employee 
of a facility licensed under Chapter 242 or 247, a [A] person 
licensed under another law of this state is exempt from the 
requirements of this chapter.
	(b)  The facility may not employ an applicant covered by 
Subsection (a), except that in an emergency requiring immediate 
employment, a facility may hire on a temporary or interim basis a 
person not listed in the registry pending the results of a criminal 
conviction check, which must be requested:
		(1)  within 72 hours of employment; or                          
		(2)  if the facility is licensed under Chapter 242 or 
247, within 24 hours of employment.
	SECTION 2.  Section 250.006, Health and Safety Code, is 
amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
	(c)  In addition to the prohibitions on employment 
prescribed by Subsections (a) and (b), a person for whom a facility 
licensed under Chapter 242 or 247 is entitled to obtain criminal 
history record information may not be employed in a facility 
licensed under Chapter 242 or 247 if the person has been convicted:
		(1)  of an offense under Section 30.02, Penal Code 
(burglary); or    
		(2)  under the laws of another state, federal law, or 
the Uniform Code of Military Justice for an offense containing 
elements that are substantially similar to the elements of an 
offense under Section 30.02, Penal Code.
	SECTION 3.  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.