By: Harrison H.B. No. 1491
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to authority to suspend the entry of persons from
  designated places.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subtitle D, Title 2, Health and Safety Code, is
  amended by adding Chapter 81B to read as follows:
  Chapter 81B. Suspension of entry of persons from designated places
  to prevent spread of communicable diseases
  Sec. 81B.001.  DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
         (1)  "COVID-19" means the 2019 novel coronavirus disease.
         (2)  "Federally declared public health emergency" means:
               (A)  a public health emergency declared by the United
  States Secretary of Health and Human Services under 42 U.S.C.
  Section 247d; or
               (B)  an emergency or disaster declared, including under
  a renewal of the declaration, by the president of the United States
  in relation to a public health emergency described by Paragraph (A)
  under:
                     (i)  the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C.
  Section 1601 et seq.); or
                     (ii)  the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and
  Emergency Assistant Act (42 U.S.C. Section 5121 et seq.).
         (3)  "Port of entry" means a port of entry in the United
  States, as defined by part 101 of the customs regulations (19 CFR
  part 101).
         (4)  "Person" means any individual other than (i) one
  described in the first sentence of section 1 of the Fourteenth
  Amendment to the United States Constitution or (ii) one described
  in 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(20).
  Sec. 81B.002.  SUSPENSION OF ENTRY. (a) During any of the
  following, all persons entering Texas by land from another country
  must pass through a legal port of entry for appropriate medical
  review:
               (1)  the pendency of any federally declared public
  health emergency for COVID-19,
               (2)  at any time which the federal government has in
  place any vaccination requirements for any person lawfully
  residing in the United States, including but not limited to
  government contractors or healthcare workers, for the purposes of
  preventing the spread of COVID-19 in the United States, or
               (3)  at any time which the U.S. Department of State has
  travel warnings for COVID-19 for any country from which citizens
  have illegally entered the United States during the most recent
  year for which there is available data.
         (b)  Any person who enters the State of Texas from a foreign
  country other than in accordance with subsection (a) of this
  section, shall be removed to the country from which they entered the
  United States, or their country of origin, or another location as
  practicable, as rapidly as possible, with as little time spent in
  congregate settings as practicable under the circumstances.
         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, 2023.