County-Related Bills That Failed

A number of bills that would have affected county government operations failed through lack of consensus or because of procedural problems in the legislative process.

COUNTY GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE

HB 29 by Leibowitz Relating to the qualifications for office of justice of the peace in certain counties. This bill would have required a justice of the peace in counties with a population over 1 million to be a licensed attorney.

\HB 1223 by Laubenberg Relating to persons authorized to make payroll deductions for county employees. This bill, as substituted, would have required the county treasurer or a county employee or office assigned by the commissioners court to prepare payroll, or if another officer is specified by law, that other officer would make the deductions from, or take other similar actions with regard to the compensation of county employees as required. Treasurers testified the bill as filed added language that delegated authority of the county treasurer to someone not elected. The substitute language did not strengthen the statutory responsibility of the county treasurer.

HB 3398 by Darby Relating to the office of county treasurer. This bill would have solidified the statutory duties of the county treasurer.

SB 320 by Wentworth Relating to the qualifications for office of justice of the peace. This bill would have changed the qualifications for the office of justice of the peace in counties of 200,000 or more to require a candidate to be at least 25 years old and a licensed attorney.

DISASTER RELIEF

SB 181 by Gallegos Relating to uniform reentry procedures for essential personnel entering an area evacuated during a disaster or other emergency. This would have required the governor, in cooperation with the Department of Public Safety, to create a task force to study and develop uniform reentry procedures for essential personnel entering a disaster area, including who can be admitted, the priority order of reentry for those personnel, and establish methods to authenticate the identity of those personnel.

FIREWORKS

HB 599 by Hughes Relating to the sale of fireworks on and before Texas Independence Day. The legislation would have authorized a new fireworks selling season for Texas Independence Day.

SB 1390 by Wentworth (HB 2857 by Miller, Doug) Relating to the regulation of fireworks during a declared local state of disaster. The legislation would have repealed the 60-hour limitation on county disaster declarations that restrict fireworks.

HEALTH CARE

HB 490 by Jackson, Jim Relating to indigent health care. This bill would have required counties and hospitals to report annually to the Department of State Health Services (DSHS). No later than the 30th day of the new year, a county would have had to report to the DSHS eligibility standards, application procedures and total county indigent health care expenditures of the previous year. This bill also would have increased the minimum eligibility standard to 25% Federal Poverty Level and increases county liability per client from $30K to $35K per year.

HB 515 by Vaught Relating to the expansion of the boundaries of the Dallas County and Tarrant County Hospital Districts. This bill would have allowed citizens of surrounding counties to petition to join the Dallas or Tarrant County Hospital Districts. The committee substitute removed the Tarrant County Hospital District.

HB 1436 by Burnam Relating to depositing revenue received by this state from undocumented immigrants to the indigent emergency medical services and preventative health care reimbursement fund. This bill would have created a dedicated account in the state general revenue account called the Indigent Emergency Medical Services and Preventative Health Care Reimbursement Fund. The comptroller would have been directed to deposit $424.7M of revenue annually to provide state assistance for a governmental entity or hospital district for the cost of emergency medical services, preventative health care services, and other health care services provided to indigent persons not reimbursed by Medicaid or any other state or federal funding source.

HB 1744 by Jackson, Jim Relating to employer liability for the cost of health care services provided to certain indigent employees. This bill would have made an employer who knowingly employed an illegal immigrant liable to the county, public hospital, or hospital district for providing services to illegal residents. This bill also would have allowed the entity to bring action against the employer for costs of the care.

HB 1876 by Chisum (SB 2527 by Hinojosa) relating to creating the health care access fund to recruit health care providers in health professional shortage areas and to support federally qualified health centers and to using for those purposes revenue from a tax imposed on certain tobacco products.

HB 2205 by Gonzales (SB 2334 by Lucio) Relating to a county's eligibility to receive state assistance for health care expenditures that exceed eight percent of the county's general revenue levy for the year. This would have allowed counties who make payments to Medicaid for health care services eligible for the state assistance program.

HB 2614 by Heflin Relating to county general revenue levy for indigent health care. This would have allowed for the county to exempt payments of principal or interest on county debt when calculating the general revenue tax levy.

HB 2710 by Coleman Relating to indigent health care services provided by a county. This bill would have increased county liability for indigent health care by requiring counties to include physical and occupational therapy services as a basic service. The committee substitute allowed counties the option to offer these services, instead of requiring them.

HB 3408 by Gonzales Relating to a county's liability for the costs of basic health care services. The as filed version of the bill would have increased the county's liability for indigent health care service by adding a number of services to the basic services requirements for counties. The committee substitute changed the bill to only allow counties to provide health care services to a person in a county regardless of the person’s income.

HB 3474 by Coleman Relating to indigent health care. This bill would have directed the commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission to adopt rules relating to improving indigent health care (IHC) services provided in Texas. The commission would have been granted a number of areas of regulation which include authority to:

• require public and private hospitals to implement an IHC program as developed by the commissioner;
• regulate over contracts for entities providing indigent health care services;
• expand eligibility for indigent health care services by various methods, including raising the income level for eligibility;
• maximize available state and federal funding to be used for provision of indigent health care, including federal stimulus money
• utilize available private funding for provision of indigent health care;
• increase spending on indigent health care by matching county funds with state funds;
• expand the range of services offered to indigent patients through an indigent health care program, including dental services, physical therapy, and occupational therapy;
• increase access to preventative treatment, including dental treatment, vaccinations, regular physical examinations, and routine screenings for health conditions, to lower the cost of emergency treatment;
• develop incentives for providers of indigent health care to provide a wider variety of optional services;
• develop regulations for federally qualified health centers to assist those entities in providing indigent health care as efficiently as possible;
• develop outcome-based performance standards for indigent health care to improve the quality of care and lower the cost of care.

HB 4494 by Eiland Relating to indigent health care costs related to a declared disaster. This bill would have allowed a county in response to a natural or manmade disaster to exempt from the county rollback rate all expenditures paid to a state agency in support of indigent health care services.

HB 4503 by Coleman Relating to charity care and governmentsponsored indigent health care provided by certain hospitals. This bill would have required a for-profit hospital who receives a tax abatement from a county to provide charity care in an amount equal to at least 5% of the hospital’s gross patient revenue.

SB 188 by Deuell (Same as HB 142 by McClendon) Relating to disease control programs to reduce the risk of certain communicable diseases. This would have authorized a local health authority to operate or contract with an organization to operate a disease control program that authorized onefor- one syringe exchanges; offered education on the transmission and prevention of communicable diseases; and assisted participants in obtaining health-related services, including substance abuse treatment services and blood borne disease testing. The bill would have authorized such programs to charge a fee for the new syringes and sets forth provisions relating to the distribution and handling of such syringes and reporting.

TRANSPARENCY

HB 2743 by Paxton Relating to the availability of certain county financial information on certain counties' Internet websites. The committee substitute stated the treasurer shall maintain an electronic checking account transaction register in a searchable format for counties with a population of 250,000 plus. Costs for this unfunded mandate would have included purchasing software for counties that did not have it and or hiring personnel to maintain the input of information and to troubleshoot the software. Redaction of privacy and juvenile concerns would have been another cost to counties.