LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 81ST LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

March 16, 2009

TO:	Honorable Jane Nelson, Chair, Senate Committee on Health & Human Services
FROM:	John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	SB790 by Nelson (Relating to clinical practice hours available for professional nursing educational programs at certain hospitals.), As Introduced

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would implement recommendations in the report, "Define and Track Clinical Practice Hours for Registered Nurse Education Programs," in the LBB Government Effectiveness and Efficiency Report submitted to the Eighty-First Texas Legislature, 2009. 

The bill would amend section 105 of the Texas Health and Safety Code to require the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to develop and maintain a small database collecting a limited number of data elements collected from 500+ hospitals. The data collected would be used to report once per year to professional nurse education programs on the availability of clinical practice hours and to report once every two years to the Legislature on the systemic distribution of clinical practice hours.

The bill would also amend Section 301.157 of the Texas Occupations Code to direct the Texas Board of Nursing to establish by rule a range on the number of clinical practice hours that would be required to be licensed as a registered nurse in Texas.

DSHS estimates that there would be a minimal cost associated with implementing the provisions of the bill.  It is assumed that the agency could absorb the expense within existing resources.

The Texas Board of Nursing indicates that it could absorb the costs associated with the bill within its current resources.

Local Government Impact

The bill would require hospitals to report the projected number of clinical practice hours available to professional nursing educational programs, and the actual number of hours available and used at the hospital to the nursing resource section by August 1 of each year. A hospital may be exempted from the reporting requirement if the hospital is unable to provide clinical practice hours. The costs to hospitals to implement the provisions of the bill are not anticipated to be significant and could be distributed and absorbed within current resources.

Source Agencies:

507 Texas Board of Nursing, 537 State Health Services, Department of

LBB Staff:

JOB, CL, PP, GP, JD, TP