81R23644 JSC-F
By: Turner of Harris H.B. No. 1710
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1710:
By: Corte C.S.H.B. No. 1710
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to requiring certain facilities located in certain areas
prone to severe weather to have an emergency preparedness plan for
provision of emergency electrical power.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 531.098 to read as follows:
Sec. 531.098. EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PLAN FOR FACILITIES
LOCATED IN AREAS PRONE TO SEVERE WEATHER. (a) For purposes of this
section, "area prone to severe weather" means each county in this
state that is located wholly or partly within 100 miles of the Gulf
of Mexico.
(b) This section applies only to a facility located in an
area prone to severe weather that is licensed by a health and human
services agency and that serves elderly persons, persons who are
ill, and persons with special needs.
(c) The executive commissioner by rule shall require a
facility to which this section applies to annually adopt and submit
to the commission for its approval an emergency preparedness plan
that ensures that, in the event of a local power outage, the
facility maintains the ability:
(1) to provide emergency electrical power; and
(2) to meet the basic needs of all persons receiving
services at the facility.
(d) The commission shall review and approve or disapprove an
emergency preparedness plan submitted under Subsection (c) and
issue a notification of approval or a notification of the reasons
for disapproval of the plan.
(e) An emergency preparedness plan must demonstrate that
the facility possesses on the facility's premises an electrical
power generator or other emergency power source. The facility must
include with the plan a proposed schedule for the regular
servicing, testing, and operation of the electrical power generator
or other emergency power source that complies with commission
rules. A facility shall maintain a log of the regular servicing,
testing, and operation of the electrical power generator or other
emergency power source and shall submit a copy of the log to the
commission with its annual emergency preparedness plan. The
commission may inspect the log at any time before the facility
submits the log to the commission.
(f) The executive commissioner by rule shall prescribe
standards relating to the servicing, testing, and operation of an
electrical power generator or other emergency power source used in
the implementation of an emergency preparedness plan submitted
under Subsection (c).
SECTION 2. Not later than December 1, 2009, the executive
commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission shall
adopt rules as required by Section 531.098, Government Code, as
added by this Act.
SECTION 3. A facility licensed by a health and human
services agency required to adopt and submit an emergency
preparedness plan under Section 531.098, Government Code, as added
by this Act, shall comply with rules adopted under that section not
later than January 31, 2010.
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 September 1, 2009.