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79R2964 CAS-D
By: Lucio S.B. No. 966
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to programs to recruit, train, and license nurses and
other health care professionals in this state.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 61, Education Code, is amended by adding
Subchapter Z-1 to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER Z-1. ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS TO REDUCE SHORTAGE
OF NURSES AND OTHER HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS
Sec. 61.9631. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Nurse" and "nursing" have the meanings assigned
by Section 301.002, Occupations Code.
(2) "Nursing program" means a program of study
described by Section 301.157, Occupations Code.
Sec. 61.9632. RULES. The board shall adopt rules as
necessary to administer this subchapter.
Sec. 61.9633. PROGRAMS TO REDUCE SHORTAGE OF HEALTH CARE
PROFESSIONALS OTHER THAN NURSES. (a) The board, in consultation
with the Texas Education Agency and appropriate institutions of
higher education, including health science centers, shall develop
and implement a program to increase the number of students who apply
to higher education health education programs in this state, other
than nursing programs.
(b) The program under Subsection (a) may include incentives
to recruit and retain faculty and may include financial assistance
for students to use in repaying amounts loaned for the costs of the
health education programs. If the program includes incentives for
faculty recruitment or retention or student loan repayment
assistance for students, the board shall make determinations on the
issues for which determinations are required by Section 61.9636(b)
or 61.9637(d), as applicable. The board may include other means to
recruit and retain faculty or students as part of the program if the
board makes necessary determinations consistent with this
subchapter to effect those means.
(c) The board shall use money appropriated for purposes of a
program under this section to pay the costs of the program. The
board may solicit, accept, and use gifts, grants, and donations
from a public or private entity to pay the costs of the program.
(d) The board periodically shall consult with the
Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education concerning
the need and appropriate measures for increasing the number of
students permitted in medical school residency programs located in
areas of this state designated under 42 U.S.C. Section 254e as
health professional shortage areas.
Sec. 61.9634. BOARD CONSULTATION WITH OTHER ENTITIES TO
ADDRESS NURSING SHORTAGE. The board, in consultation with medical
schools, teaching hospitals affiliated with medical schools, the
Board of Nurse Examiners, nursing education programs, and health
care professionals, shall develop funding formulas as provided by
Section 61.9635 and shall develop and implement programs as
provided by Sections 61.9636, 61.9637, and 61.9638 to encourage
recruiting, training, and licensing of nurses in this state.
Sec. 61.9635. FUNDING FORMULAS FOR NURSING PROGRAMS. (a)
The board shall develop a funding formula under which the
legislature may make appropriations for the state fiscal biennium
beginning September 1, 2007, to nursing education programs to
enable the programs to provide incentives to recruit and retain
graduate nursing students.
(b) As soon as practicable after this Act takes effect, the
board shall revise the formulas for funding nursing education
programs to provide for an increase in appropriations to those
programs to enable the programs to pay the costs of higher faculty
salaries and other costs associated with recruiting and retaining
faculty. This subsection expires September 1, 2007.
Sec. 61.9636. INCENTIVE PROGRAM TO RECRUIT AND RETAIN
NURSING PROGRAM FACULTY. (a) The board shall develop and implement
a program under which a nursing education program offers
incentives, including financial incentives, to recruit and retain
faculty members.
(b) In developing the program under Subsection (a), the
board shall determine, as necessary, the types of incentives to be
offered, the amounts of any financial incentives, which nursing
education programs may offer the incentives, the eligibility
requirements and any other conditions that must be met for each
incentive, an application procedure and forms for applying for an
incentive, criteria for selecting among applicants, any conditions
that must be met to retain an incentive, and the term for which an
incentive is to be provided.
(c) The board shall use money appropriated for purposes of a
program under this section to pay the costs of the program. The
board may solicit, accept, and use gifts, grants, and donations
from a public or private entity to pay the costs of the program.
Sec. 61.9637. PILOT PROGRAM TO INCREASE NURSES AND NURSING
FACULTY IN AREAS WITH CRITICAL SHORTAGE OF NURSES. (a) The
Department of State Health Services, through rules adopted by the
executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission,
shall designate areas of this state with a critical shortage of
nurses for purposes of this section.
(b) The board shall develop a pilot program to increase the
number of:
(1) nurses working in areas of this state with a
critical shortage of nurses; and
(2) faculty members recruited and retained by nursing
education programs located in areas of this state with a critical
shortage of nurses.
(c) The pilot program shall provide for nursing student loan
repayment assistance for service as a nurse for at least three years
in an area of this state with a critical shortage of nurses.
(d) In developing the program, the board shall determine, as
necessary, the amount and terms of repayment assistance to be
offered to a student who participates in the program, eligibility
requirements and any other conditions that must be met to receive
assistance, the type of loan eligible for assistance, an
application procedure and forms for applying for assistance,
criteria for selecting among applicants, an agreement form under
which the applicant agrees to serve as a nurse for at least three
years in an area of this state with a critical shortage of nurses,
and any termination of assistance or penalty for failure to
complete the agreement.
(e) Under the program, a nursing student may not receive a
total amount of assistance greater than the total amount of the
principal and interest due on the student's nursing program loan
during the first three years that the nurse practices under an
agreement entered into under this section in an area of this state
with a critical shortage of nurses.
(f) The board shall adopt incentives to increase the number
of faculty members recruited and retained by a nursing education
program in an area of this state with a critical shortage of nurses.
In adopting the incentives, the board shall make determinations on
the issues for which determinations are required by Section
61.9636(b).
(g) The board shall use money appropriated for purposes of a
program under this section to pay the costs of the program. The
board may solicit, accept, and use gifts, grants, and donations
from a public or private entity to pay the costs of the program.
(h) This section expires September 1, 2011.
Sec. 61.9638. PILOT PROGRAM FOR ACCELERATED OR ALTERNATIVE
PROCEDURES FOR NURSING PROGRAM ACCEPTANCE. (a) The board shall
develop and implement a pilot program that establishes accelerated
or alternative procedures for an applicant's acceptance into a
nursing education program.
(b) In developing the program under Subsection (a), the
board shall require a nursing education program to consider, in
making a decision on an applicant's admission to the program, an
applicant's employment and other experiences in addition to the
applicant's academic qualifications.
(c) This section expires September 1, 2011.
Sec. 61.9639. STUDY AND REPORT CONCERNING STATUTES AND
RULES AFFECTING NURSING PROGRAMS. (a) To address the state's
current nursing shortage, the board, in consultation with the Board
of Nurse Examiners, shall study state statutes and rules regulating
nursing and shall consider changes in those statutes or rules that
may increase the number of applicants accepted into nursing
education programs.
(b) As part of the study under Subsection (a), the board
shall review the enrollment capacity of nursing education programs,
the current clinical faculty–to–student ratio requirements,
whether the ratio requirements impede the growth of nursing
programs, and other matters the board considers appropriate. Not
later than December 31, 2006, the board shall report the findings of
the study to the legislature and make recommendations for statutory
and rules changes or other actions to reduce the state's nursing
shortage.
(c) This section expires January 31, 2007.
SECTION 2. (a) Not later than November 1, 2005, in
accordance with Section 61.9633(d), Education Code, as added by
this Act, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall begin
to consult with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical
Education concerning the need and appropriate measures for
increasing the number of students permitted in the residency
programs of medical schools located in areas of this state
designated as health professional shortage areas.
(b) Not later than April 1, 2006, the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board shall develop a funding formula for nursing
programs as required by Section 61.9635(a), Education Code, as
added by this Act.
(c) Not later than September 1, 2006, the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board shall develop and implement programs
to increase the recruiting, training, and licensing of nurses and
other health care professionals, as provided by Sections 61.9633,
61.9636, 61.9637, and 61.9638, Education Code, as added by this
Act.
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, 2005.