H.B. No. 13
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to reporting requirements by certain physicians and health
  care facilities for abortion complications; authorizing a civil
  penalty.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 171, Health and Safety
  Code, is amended by adding Section 171.006 to read as follows:
         Sec. 171.006.  ABORTION COMPLICATION REPORTING
  REQUIREMENTS; CIVIL PENALTY. (a) In this section "abortion
  complication" means any harmful event or adverse outcome with
  respect to a patient related to an abortion that is performed on the
  patient and that is diagnosed or treated by a health care
  practitioner or at a health care facility and includes:
               (1)  shock;
               (2)  uterine perforation;
               (3)  cervical laceration;
               (4)  hemorrhage;
               (5)  aspiration or allergic response;
               (6)  infection;
               (7)  sepsis;
               (8)  death of the patient;
               (9)  incomplete abortion;
               (10)  damage to the uterus; or
               (11)  an infant born alive after the abortion.
         (b)  The reporting requirements of this section apply only
  to:
               (1)  a physician who:
                     (A)  performs at an abortion facility an abortion
  that results in an abortion complication diagnosed or treated by
  that physician; or
                     (B)  diagnoses or treats at an abortion facility
  an abortion complication that is the result of an abortion
  performed by another physician at the facility; or
               (2)  a health care facility that is a hospital,
  abortion facility, freestanding emergency medical care facility,
  or health care facility that provides emergency medical care, as
  defined by Section 773.003.
         (c)  A physician described by Subsection (b)(1) shall
  electronically submit to the commission in the form and manner
  prescribed by commission rule a report on each abortion
  complication diagnosed or treated by that physician not later than
  the end of the third business day after the date on which the
  complication is diagnosed or treated.  Each health care facility
  described by Subsection (b)(2) shall electronically submit to the
  commission in the form and manner prescribed by commission rule a
  report on each abortion complication diagnosed or treated at the
  facility not later than the 30th day after the date on which the
  complication is diagnosed or treatment is provided for the
  complication.
         (d)  The commission shall develop a form for reporting an
  abortion complication under Subsection (c) and publish the form on
  the commission's Internet website.  The executive commissioner by
  rule may adopt procedures to reduce duplication in reporting under
  this section.
         (e)  A report under this section may not identify by any
  means the physician performing an abortion, other than a physician
  described by Subsection (b)(1), or the patient on whom the abortion
  was performed.
         (f)  A report under this section must identify the name of
  the physician submitting the report or the name and type of health
  care facility submitting the report and must include, if known, for
  each abortion complication:
               (1)  the date of the abortion that caused or may have
  caused the complication;
               (2)  the type of abortion that caused or may have caused
  the complication;
               (3)  the gestational age of the fetus at the time the
  abortion was performed;
               (4)  the name and type of the facility in which the
  abortion was performed;
               (5)  the date the complication was diagnosed or
  treated;
               (6)  the name and type of any facility other than the
  reporting facility in which the complication was diagnosed or
  treated;
               (7)  a description of the complication;
               (8)  the patient's year of birth, race, marital status,
  and state and county of residence;
               (9)  the date of the first day of the patient's last
  menstrual period that occurred before the date of the abortion that
  caused or may have caused the complication;
               (10)  the number of previous live births of the
  patient; and
               (11)  the number of previous induced abortions of the
  patient.
         (g)  Except as provided by Section 245.023, all information
  and records held by the commission under this section are
  confidential and are not open records for the purposes of Chapter
  552, Government Code.  That information may not be released or made
  public on subpoena or otherwise, except release may be made:
               (1)  for statistical purposes, but only if a person,
  patient, or health care facility is not identified;
               (2)  with the consent of each person, patient, and
  facility identified in the information released;
               (3)  to medical personnel, appropriate state agencies,
  or county and district courts to enforce this chapter; or
               (4)  to appropriate state licensing boards to enforce
  state licensing laws.
         (h)  A report submitted under this section must include the
  most specific, accurate, and complete reporting for the highest
  level of specificity.
         (i)  The commission shall develop and publish on the
  commission's Internet website an annual report that aggregates on a
  statewide basis each abortion complication required to be reported
  under Subsection (f) for the previous calendar year.  The annual
  report may not include any duplicative data.
         (j)  A physician described by Subsection (b)(1) or health
  care facility that violates this section is subject to a civil
  penalty of $500 for each violation. The attorney general, at the
  request of the commission or appropriate licensing agency, may file
  an action to recover a civil penalty assessed under this subsection
  and may recover attorney's fees and costs incurred in bringing the
  action. Each day of a continuing violation constitutes a separate
  ground for recovery.
         (k)  The third separate violation of this section
  constitutes cause for the revocation or suspension of a physician's
  or health care facility's license, permit, registration,
  certificate, or other authority or for other disciplinary action
  against the physician or facility by the appropriate licensing
  agency.
         (l)  The commission shall notify the Texas Medical Board of
  any violations of this section by a physician.
         SECTION 2.  Not later than January 1, 2018:
               (1)  the Health and Human Services Commission shall
  develop the forms required by Section 171.006, Health and Safety
  Code, as added by this Act; and
               (2)  the executive commissioner of the Health and Human
  Services Commission shall adopt the rules necessary to implement
  Section 171.006, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act.
         SECTION 3.  The Health and Human Services Commission shall
  establish an electronic reporting system for purposes of Section
  171.006, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, as soon as
  practicable after the effective date of this Act.
         SECTION 4.  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 on the 91st day after the last day of the
  legislative session.
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 13 was passed by the House on July 28,
  2017, by the following vote:  Yeas 94, Nays 45, 1 present, not
  voting.
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 13 was passed by the Senate on August
  11, 2017, by the following vote:  Yeas 22, Nays 9.
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate    
  APPROVED:  _____________________
                     Date          
   
            _____________________
                   Governor