Bill Text: TX SB804 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to eligibility requirements for student loan repayment assistance for certain mental health professionals.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 2)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-04-11 - Co-author authorized [SB804 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-SB804-Introduced.html
| 88R6931 MM-D | ||
| By: Schwertner | S.B. No. 804 | |
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| relating to eligibility requirements for student loan repayment | ||
| assistance for certain mental health professionals. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Section 61.603, Education Code, is amended to | ||
| read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 61.603. ELIGIBILITY. (a) Except as provided by | ||
| Subsection (b), to [ |
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| under this subchapter, a mental health professional must: | ||
| (1) apply to the board; | ||
| (2) have completed one, two, three, four, or five | ||
| consecutive years of practice in a mental health professional | ||
| shortage area designated by the Department of State Health | ||
| Services; and | ||
| (3) provide mental health services in this state to: | ||
| (A) recipients under the medical assistance | ||
| program authorized by Chapter 32, Human Resources Code; | ||
| (B) enrollees under the child health plan program | ||
| authorized by Chapter 62, Health and Safety Code; or | ||
| (C) persons committed to a secure correctional | ||
| facility operated by or under contract with the Texas Juvenile | ||
| Justice Department or persons confined in a secure correctional | ||
| facility operated by or under contract with any division of the | ||
| Texas Department of Criminal Justice. | ||
| (b) A mental health professional may also establish | ||
| eligibility for the repayment assistance under this subchapter by | ||
| satisfying the requirements of this subsection. To establish | ||
| eligibility under this subsection, the mental health professional | ||
| must: | ||
| (1) apply to the board; | ||
| (2) provide mental health services to: | ||
| (A) patients in a state hospital, as defined by | ||
| Section 552.0011, Health and Safety Code; or | ||
| (B) individuals receiving community-based mental | ||
| health services from a local mental health authority that provides | ||
| the services in accordance with Subchapter B, Chapter 534, Health | ||
| and Safety Code; and | ||
| (3) have completed one, two, three, four, or five | ||
| consecutive years of practice in this state as described by | ||
| Subdivision (2). | ||
| (c) In addition to satisfying the requirements under | ||
| Subsection (a) or (b), for a licensed physician to be eligible to | ||
| receive repayment assistance under this subchapter after the | ||
| physician's third consecutive year of practice described under | ||
| Subsection (a)(2) or (b)(3), as applicable, the physician must be | ||
| certified in psychiatry by: | ||
| (1) the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology; or | ||
| (2) the American Osteopathic Board of Neurology and | ||
| Psychiatry. | ||
| SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act to Section | ||
| 61.603, Education Code, applies only to a person who first | ||
| establishes eligibility for loan repayment assistance under | ||
| Subchapter K, Chapter 61, Education Code, as amended by this Act, on | ||
| the basis of an application submitted on or after September 1, 2023. | ||
| A person who first establishes eligibility on the basis of an | ||
| application submitted before September 1, 2023, is governed by the | ||
| law in effect on the date the application was submitted, and the | ||
| former law is continued in effect for that purpose. | ||
| SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023. | ||
