BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 1392

By: King, Susan

Public Health

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Interested parties maintain that it is difficult for the public to receive information on food safety regulations from the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) in order to ensure compliance with state law before an inspection, which can result in a citation or fine on the business. H.B. 1392 seeks to improve the communication between DSHS and the public to ensure that there is a consistent and reliable way for interested parties to obtain clear instructions for complying with state food and health regulations before an inspection takes place.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission in SECTIONS 1 and 2 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 1392 amends the Health and Safety Code to require the Department of State Health Services (DSHS), unless otherwise prohibited by state or federal law and on receipt of a written request for information pertaining to the regulation of food under statutory provisions relating to food and drug health regulations, to provide a reasonable and substantial response to the request not later than the 30th day after the date DSHS receives the request. The bill requires DSHS, on receipt of a written request regarding the applicability to a specific circumstance of a regulation or the requirements for compliance with the regulation, to provide an official written determination regarding the information requested to the requestor not later than the 30th day after the date DSHS receives the request. The bill specifies that an official determination made under the bill's provisions is valid until the regulation that is the subject of the determination is amended by statute or rule.

H.B. 1392 prohibits an inspector from issuing a citation to a person for a violation of a food regulation if the person provides the inspector with an official determination made under the bill's provisions that contradicts the opinion of the inspector. The bill requires the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission, not later than December 1, 2013,  to adopt rules to implement the bill's provisions and requires the executive commissioner to periodically evaluate DSHS food safety rules and modify the rules as necessary to improve consistency and communication in food regulation in Texas. The bill's provisions apply to a request for information or official determination made to DSHS on or after January 1, 2014.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2013.