BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.J.R. 79

By: Branch

Higher Education

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Interested parties note that a Legislative Budget Board (LBB) performance report issued to the legislature in the mid-1980s found the success of the State Rural Medical Education Board (since renamed the State Medical Education Board) questionable and recommended that the board be abolished. These parties observe that the LBB found that only a small percentage of the people who had received loans administered by the board were practicing medicine in rural Texas counties, with only a slightly larger percentage of those individuals practicing in areas designated as medically underserved. The parties note that no new loans have been made by the board in more than 25 years, and the board currently has no appointees and receives no program funding. C.S.H.J.R. 79 seeks to eliminate an obsolete requirement for a State Medical Education Board and a State Medical Education Fund, neither of which is operational.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this resolution does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.J.R. 79 proposes an amendment to the Texas Constitution to repeal Section 50a, Article III, Texas Constitution, relating to the creation of a State Medical Education Board and the establishment and funding of a State Medical Education Fund.

ELECTION DATE

The constitutional amendment proposed by this joint resolution will be submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 5, 2013.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.J.R. 79 differs from the original only by amending the ballot language.