BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 626

By: Flores

Public Health

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Currently, each inpatient mental health facility, treatment facility, or hospital that provides comprehensive medical rehabilitation services must, as a condition of licensure, annually provide a minimum of eight hours of inservice training designed to assist employees and health care professionals associated with the facility in identifying patient abuse or neglect and illegal, unprofessional, or unethical conduct by or in the facility. The bill sponsor has informed the committee that this training can be burdensome and redundant for employees who have received the training in prior years. S.B. 626 seeks to address this issue by specifying that the required minimum of eight hours of training applies only to new employees and by requiring a minimum of three hours of continuing training for continuing employees.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

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

ANALYSIS

S.B. 626 amends the Health and Safety Code to specify that the minimum of eight hours of inservice training designed to assist employees and health care professionals associated with a facility in identifying patient abuse or neglect and illegal, unprofessional, or unethical conduct by or in the facility that each inpatient mental health facility, treatment facility, or hospital that provides comprehensive medical rehabilitation services must annually provide as a condition of continued licensure is initial inservice training for new employees. The bill requires that the facility annually provide a minimum of three hours of continuing inservice training for continuing employees for such purposes.

S.B. 626 applies to the minimum number of inservice training hours provided as a condition of licensure by health care facilities subject to the bill's provisions on and after the bill's effective date. The minimum number of inservice training hours provided before the bill's effective date is governed by the law in effect immediately before that date, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.