By: Perry  S.B. No. 1089
         (In the Senate - Filed February 24, 2017; March 7, 2017,
  read first time and referred to Committee on Agriculture, Water &
  Rural Affairs; March 29, 2017, reported favorably by the following
  vote:  Yeas 5, Nays 0; March 29, 2017, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the certification of food service workers.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Sections 438.046(b), (b-1), and (c), Health and
  Safety Code, are amended to read as follows:
         (b)  [A local health jurisdiction that requires training for
  a food service worker shall accept as sufficient to meet the
  jurisdiction's training and testing requirements a training course
  that is accredited by the department and listed with the registry.]
  A food service worker trained in a course for the employees of a
  single entity is considered to have met a local health
  jurisdiction's training and testing requirements only as to food
  service performed for that entity.
         (b-1)  A food service worker trained in a food handler
  training course that is accredited by the American National
  Standards Institute or that is accredited by the department and
  listed with the registry is considered to have met a local health
  jurisdiction's training, testing, and permitting requirements. A
  local health jurisdiction may require a food establishment, as that
  term is defined by Section 438.101, to maintain on the premises of
  the food establishment a certificate of completion of the training
  course for employees of the food establishment.
         (c)  A local health jurisdiction may not charge a fee for a
  certificate issued to a food service worker who provides proof of
  completion of an accredited course described by Subsection (b-1).  
  [Any fee charged by a local health jurisdiction for a certificate
  issued to a food service worker trained by an accredited course
  listed in the registry may not exceed the lesser of:
               [(1)     the reasonable cost incurred by the jurisdiction
  in issuing the certificate; or
               [(2)     the fee charged by the jurisdiction to issue a
  certificate to a food service worker certified by the jurisdiction
  as having met the training and testing requirements by any other
  means.]
         SECTION 2.  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, 2017.
 
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