Honorable Lois W. Kolkhorst, Chair, Senate Committee on Health & Human Services
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1998 by Johnson, Julie (Relating to the regulation of physicians and the disciplinary authority of the Texas Medical Board; increasing a criminal penalty; imposing a fee.), As Engrossed
The bill would modify the conduct constituting the offense of making a false statement in an application for a license to practice medicine or under oath to obtain or secure the registration of a license to practice medicine to specify that the actor must knowingly make the false statement. The bill would establish the penalty for the offense as a Class A misdemeanor or a state jail felony if the actor's intent is to defraud or harm another.
Increasing the penalty for an existing offense may result in additional demands upon state and local correctional resources due to a possible increase in the number of individuals placed under supervision in the community or sentenced to a term of confinement.
It is assumed that any impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources would not be significant.