Bill Text: TX HB2299 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Relating to the women's health program.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-05-09 - Comm. report sent to Local & Consent Calendar [HB2299 Detail]

Download: Texas-2011-HB2299-Comm_Sub.html

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82R25297 SJM-D
By: Coleman, Naishtat H.B. No. 2299
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2299:
By: Gonzalez C.S.H.B. No. 2299

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the women's health program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that:
(1) taxpayer money should not be used to directly or
indirectly support elective abortions or to pay for costs,
including overhead costs, rent, utilities, and operational costs,
of an entity that performs elective abortions;
(2) because money is fungible, taxpayer money is used
to support elective abortions when the state awards grant money to
an entity or the affiliate of an entity that performs or promotes
elective abortions, even if the money is designated exclusively for
purposes that are not related to elective abortions;
(3) an effort to separate an entity that performs
elective abortions from an affiliate of the entity is insufficient
to prevent taxpayer money from being used to support elective
abortions because, if taxpayer money is provided to the affiliate,
additional resources that would have been used by the affiliate are
available for use by the entity that performs elective abortions;
(4) prohibiting the distribution of taxpayer money to
entities that perform elective abortions and the affiliates of
those entities is the only way to ensure that taxpayer money is not
used to fund elective abortions; and
(5) no provision of 42 U.S.C. Section 300 et seq.,
Title XIX, Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Section 1396 et seq.), or
Title XX, Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Section 1397 et seq.), is
capable of preempting a state law that prohibits the use of taxpayer
money to support the performance or promotion of elective abortions
or that imposes a mandate or obligation on the state regarding the
use of state money to support the performance or promotion of
elective abortions because those laws only specify the conditions
under which the United States secretary of health and human
services may award grant money to or reimburse the expenses of a
state and they do not impose a mandate or obligation on this state.
SECTION 2. Section 32.0248, Human Resources Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 32.0248. [DEMONSTRATION PROJECT FOR] WOMEN'S HEALTH
PROGRAM [CARE SERVICES]. (a) In this section, "program" means the
women's health program provided under this section.
(a-1) Subject to Subsection (i), the [The] department shall
provide [establish] a women's health program [five-year
demonstration project] through the medical assistance program to
expand access to preventive health and family planning services for
women. A woman eligible under Subsection (b) to participate in the
program [demonstration project] may receive appropriate preventive
health and family planning services, including:
(1) medical history recording and evaluation;
(2) physical examinations;
(3) health screenings, including screening for:
(A) diabetes;
(B) cervical cancer;
(C) breast cancer;
(D) sexually transmitted diseases;
(E) hypertension;
(F) cholesterol; and
(G) tuberculosis;
(4) counseling and education on contraceptive methods
emphasizing the health benefits of abstinence from sexual activity
to recipients who are not married, except for counseling and
education regarding emergency contraception;
(5) provision of contraceptives, except for the
provision of emergency contraception;
(6) risk assessment; and
(7) referral of medical problems to appropriate
providers that are entities or organizations that do not perform or
promote elective abortions or contract or affiliate with entities
that perform or promote elective abortions.
(b) A woman is eligible to participate in the program
[demonstration project] if the woman is at least 18 years of age
and:
(1) has a net family income that is at or below 185
percent of the federal poverty level;
(2) participates in or receives benefits under any of
the following:
(A) the medical assistance program;
(B) the financial assistance program under
Chapter 31;
(C) the nutritional assistance program under
Chapter 33;
(D) the Supplemental Food Program for Women,
Infants and Children; or
(E) another program administered by the state
that:
(i) requires documentation of income; and
(ii) restricts eligibility to persons with
income equal to or less than the income eligibility guidelines
applicable to the medical assistance program;
(3) is presumed eligible for one of the programs
listed in Subdivision (2) pending completion of that program's
eligibility process; or
(4) is a member of a family that contains at least one
person who participates in or receives benefits under one of the
programs listed in Subdivision (2).
(c) The department shall ensure that the standards of care
provided to a woman participating in the program [demonstration
project] are consistent with the requirements of law and current
best practices for provision of public health services.
(d) The department shall develop procedures for determining
and certifying eligibility for services under the program
[demonstration project] at the point of service delivery using
integrated procedures that minimize duplication of effort by
providers, the department, and other state agencies. The
department may not use a procedure that would require a cost in
excess of 10 percent of the total costs of actual preventive health
and family planning services provided under the program
[demonstration project]. The eligibility procedure may provide for
expedited determination and certification using a simplified form
requiring only family income and family size.
(e) The department shall compile a list of potential funding
sources a woman participating in the program [demonstration
project] may be able to use to help pay for treatment for health
problems:
(1) identified using services provided under the
program [demonstration project]; and
(2) for which the woman is not eligible to receive
treatment under the program or otherwise under the medical
assistance program [or the demonstration project].
(f) Providers of services under the program [demonstration
project] shall comply with requests made by the department for
information necessary for the department to:
(1) make efficient use of money spent for the
operation and administration of the program [demonstration
project];
(2) report and provide information required by federal
law; and
(3) compile the report required by Subsection (g).
(g) Not later than December 1 of each even-numbered year,
the department shall submit a report to the legislature regarding
the department's operation of [progress in establishing and
operating] the program [demonstration project].
(h) The department shall ensure the money spent under the
program [demonstration project], regardless of the funding source,
is not used to perform or promote elective abortions. The
department, for the purpose of the program [demonstration project],
may not contract with entities that perform or promote elective
abortions or are affiliates of entities that perform or promote
elective abortions.
(i) The department shall cease the operation of the program
if a court holds that Subsection (h) or its application to any
person or entity is invalid or enjoins its enforcement. If the
department ceases the operation of the program under this
subsection but a court with binding authority subsequently
overrules the holding or injunction described by this subsection,
the department shall reinstate the operation of the program until a
court subsequently overrules the decision of the court that
resulted in the reinstatement of the program.
(j) If any provision of this section or its application to
any person or circumstance is held invalid, the entire section is
invalid. The provisions of this section are nonseverable to
achieve this purpose.
(k) An officer or employee of the department or an executive
or administrative official of the state may not refuse to comply
with Subsection (h) on the basis of the officer's, employee's, or
official's opinion that the provision is unconstitutional,
preempted by federal law, or invalid for any other reason unless a
court, in a final judgment that is not reversed on appeal, is no
longer subject to appeal, and is applicable to and binding on this
state, finds that Subsection (h) is unconstitutional, preempted by
federal law, or invalid for any other reason.
(l) This section expires September 1, 2016 [2011].
SECTION 3. If before implementing Section 32.0248, Human
Resources Code, as amended by this Act, a state agency determines
that an amendment to the existing waiver or other authorization is
necessary to extend the operation of the women's health program
under that section as amended, the agency affected by the provision
shall request the amendment to the waiver or authorization and may
delay implementing that section until the amendment or other
authorization is granted.
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 August 31, 2011.