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79R8947 YDB-F
By: Goolsby H.B. No. 2167
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to organ donation.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subtitle B, Title 8, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Chapter 695 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 695. ORGAN DONATION INCENTIVE ACT
Sec. 695.001. SHORT TITLE. This chapter may be cited as the
Organ Donation Incentive Act.
Sec. 695.002. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Death benefit" means a monetary payment made
under this chapter to a beneficiary designated by a registered
donor.
(2) "Department" means the Department of State Health
Services.
(3) "Organ" means the human heart, kidney, liver,
pancreas, bowel, or cornea.
(4) "Organ procurement" includes acquiring,
harvesting, preserving, storing, transporting, distributing, and
tissue typing organs.
(5) "Organ procurement organization" means a
qualified organ procurement organization as defined by 42 U.S.C.
Section 273.
(6) "Organ transplant services" includes organ
procurement, inpatient hospital services, physician services, and
laboratory services related to an organ transplant procedure.
(7) "Program" means the organ donation incentive
program.
(8) "Registered donor" means a resident of this state
who has registered with the department under Section 695.006, and
who has not revoked the person's registration or anatomical gift.
Sec. 695.003. ADMINISTRATION OF PROGRAM. (a) The
department shall administer the organ donation incentive program.
(b) The executive commissioner of the Health and Human
Services Commission shall adopt rules necessary to establish a
procedure for:
(1) a donor to register with the department as an organ
donor and designate a beneficiary to receive any death benefit
payable by reason of the donor's death; and
(2) a beneficiary of a deceased donor to make a claim
for a death benefit payment.
(c) The department may employ staff to administer the
program.
Sec. 695.004. ORGAN DONATION INCENTIVE FUND. (a) The organ
donation incentive fund is an account in the general revenue fund
and is composed of money collected under Section 695.005 and
contributions to the fund from any other source.
(b) Money in the fund may be used only for purposes
authorized by this chapter, including collection of the tax under
Section 695.005.
(c) The department may use the money deposited in the fund
to pay death benefits under the program and the administrative
costs of administering the program.
Sec. 695.005. TAX ON ORGAN TRANSPLANT SERVICES. (a) A tax
is imposed on each provider of organ transplant services in this
state equal to five percent of the provider's gross revenues
received for performance of organ transplant services. The
proceeds of the tax collected under this section shall be deposited
to the credit of the organ donation incentive fund.
(b) A provider required to pay the tax collected under this
section shall pay the comptroller the tax based on the total amount
of gross revenues collected during the preceding calendar year not
later than May 1 of the following calendar year. At the time
payment is made, the provider shall file with the comptroller a
report stating:
(1) the total amount of gross revenues collected
during the reporting period; and
(2) any other information that the comptroller may
require.
(c) The comptroller may adopt the rules necessary to
administer this section.
Sec. 695.006. REGISTRATION AS ORGAN DONOR. (a) A resident
of this state who makes an anatomical gift for transplantation
purposes under Chapter 692 may register as a registered donor with
the department by filing a copy of the gift document and any other
information or documentation the department may require. The
registration documentation must include:
(1) the donor's designation of a beneficiary to
receive any death benefit payments; and
(2) the signature of the person or persons who would
have priority to make a gift of the donor's organs under Section
692.004 if the donor died at the time of registration.
(b) Registration with the department is not necessary for an
anatomical gift made under Chapter 692 to be valid.
(c) A registered donor may revoke an anatomical gift in
accordance with Chapter 692 and notify the department that the
donor wishes to withdraw from the donor registry. Failure to
withdraw from the donor registry does not affect the validity of the
revocation.
Sec. 695.007. DEATH BENEFITS. (a) Death benefits are:
(1) paid through the department in accordance with
this chapter and rules adopted by the executive commissioner of the
Health and Human Services Commission; and
(2) due and payable only to the extent provided by this
chapter.
(b) The department shall determine the amount of the death
benefit payable under this chapter each fiscal year in accordance
with this section. The amount for any given year must be the same
amount for each registered donor who dies during the year and
qualifies for a death benefit payment.
(c) The department shall employ an actuary, as an employee
or consultant, to make a recommendation not later than August 1 of
each year on the amount of death benefit to be paid during the
following state fiscal year, based on an actuarial analysis of
relevant factors, including:
(1) the number and ages of registered donors;
(2) the expected number of new registered donors
during the following state fiscal year;
(3) any reserve funds;
(4) the expected administration costs of the program;
and
(5) the expected contributions to the fund during the
following state fiscal year.
(d) Based on the actuary's recommendation, the department
shall set the amount of the death benefit payment for a state fiscal
year not later than August 31 of the preceding calendar year.
(e) An actuary employed under this section must be a fellow
of the Society of Actuaries, a member of the American Academy of
Actuaries, or an enrolled actuary under the Employee Retirement
Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. Section 1001, et seq.).
Sec. 695.008. QUALIFICATION FOR DEATH BENEFIT PAYMENT. (a)
If a registered donor dies and any of the donor's organs are offered
for transplantation through the Organ Procurement and
Transplantation Network established under 42 U.S.C. Section 274
without regard to whether any offered organs are actually accepted
for transplantation, the registered donor's named beneficiary is
entitled to a death benefit payment.
(b) Before the department approves a claim, the department
shall obtain a written certification from the organ procurement
organization that offered the donor's organs for transplantation to
verify the organization made the offer.
(c) Death benefits are due and payable only to the extent
money is available for that purpose in the organ donation incentive
fund. This state and the department are not liable for any death
benefit in excess of the amount in the fund. If a claim is approved
in an amount that exceeds the amount actually in the fund at that
time, the department shall postpone payment of the claim until
sufficient money to pay the benefit is in the fund.
SECTION 2. Section 48.02(c), Penal Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(c) It is an exception to the application of this section
that the valuable consideration is: (1) a fee paid to a physician
or to other medical personnel for services rendered in the usual
course of medical practice or a fee paid for hospital or other
clinical services; (2) reimbursement of legal or medical expenses
incurred for the benefit of the ultimate receiver of the organ; [or]
(3) reimbursement of expenses of travel, housing, and lost wages
incurred by the donor of a human organ in connection with the
donation of the organ; or (4) payment of a death benefit under
Chapter 695, Health and Safety Code.
SECTION 3. (a) The executive commissioner of the Health and
Human Services Commission shall adopt the rules and the Department
of State Health Services shall establish the procedures necessary
to implement Chapter 695, Health and Safety Code, as added by this
Act, not later than June 1, 2006.
(b) Notwithstanding Chapter 695, Health and Safety Code, a
person may not register as a registered donor with the Department of
State Health Services under that chapter before September 1, 2006.
(c) Section 695.005, Health and Safety Code, as added by
this Act, applies only to organ transplant services provided on or
after January 1, 2006.
SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act to Section
48.02, Penal Code, applies only to an offense committed on or after
the effective date of this Act. An offense committed before the
effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the
offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for
that purpose. For purposes of this section, an offense was
committed before the effective date of this Act if any element of
the offense was committed before that date.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.