82R9383 T
By: Chisum H.B. No. 2405
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to discrimination and restraint of trade against certain
persons regulated under the Occupations Code.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 15.05, Business and Commerce Code, is
amended by adding Subsections (e-1), (e-2), (e-3), (e-4), and (f-1)
and amending Subsections (g) and (i) to read as follows:
(e-1) Notwithstanding Titles 4 and 7, Business
Organizations Code, it is unlawful to prohibit any person licensed
under Subtitle C, Title 3, Occupations Code, from forming a
partnership, professional association, or professional limited
liability company with persons licensed under Subtitle B, Title 3,
Occupations Code.
(e-2) With regard to a person licensed under a chapter of
Title 3, Occupations Code, who is authorized under state law,
rules, or regulations to provide services covered under an
insurance policy, it is unlawful for an insurer to:
(1) deny payment or reimbursement for the services
solely because the services are provided by a person licensed under
a particular chapter of Title 3, Occupations Code, if:
(A) the services are performed in strict
compliance with state laws, rules, and regulations relating to that
person's license; and
(B) the insurer allows payment or reimbursement
for the same services provided by a person licensed under a
different chapter of Title 3, Occupations Code;
(2) make payment or reimbursement for particular
services that the person is authorized to provide under state law,
rules, or regulations contingent on provision of those services by
a person licensed under a different chapter of Title 3, Occupations
Code; or
(3) establish a cap on annual expenditures for or
number of visits to a person licensed to provide covered services
under a particular chapter of Title 3, Occupations Code, that would
prohibit the insured from seeking the provision of covered services
from a person licensed to provide covered services under that
chapter of Title 3, Occupations Code, to the same extent that the
insured may seek the provision of covered services by a person
licensed to provide those services under a different chapter of
Title 3, Occupations Code.
(e-3) It is unlawful for a licensing or regulatory entity
created under Title 3, Occupations Code, to file, join, serve as an
amicus curiae, or otherwise participate in a lawsuit against
another licensing or regulatory entity created under Title 3,
Occupations Code, for any purpose, including the purpose of
preventing persons licensed under a particular chapter of Title 3,
Occupations Code, from providing services that those persons have
been legally trained and licensed by the state to perform.
(e-4) Notwithstanding any other law, it is unlawful to
prevent by any means a person licensed under a particular chapter of
Title 3, Occupations Code, from:
(1) collaborating with a person licensed under a
different chapter of Title 3, Occupations Code, in providing
services to a client if each person performs only those services
that the person is authorized under state law, rules, or
regulations to perform; or
(2) using objective or subjective means to diagnose,
analyze, examine, or evaluate the condition of the person's client
for the purpose of:
(A) providing services to the client that the
person is authorized under state laws, rules, or regulations to
provide; or
(B) referring the client to an appropriate person
licensed under another chapter of Title 3, Occupations Code, for
the provision of services needed by the client.
(f-1) Notwithstanding any other law, it is not unlawful for
a person licensed under another chapter of Title 3, Occupations
Code, to use the same billing codes used by a person licensed under
Chapter 453, Occupations Code, if the billing codes describe
services that the person is authorized under state law, rules, or
regulations to provide.
(g) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit
activities that are exempt from the operation of the federal
antitrust laws, 15 U.S.C. Section 1 et seq., except that an
exemption otherwise available under the McCarran-Ferguson Act (15
U.S.C. Sections 1011-1015) does not serve to exempt activities
under this Act. Except as provided by Subsections (e-3) and (e-4),
nothing [Nothing] in this section shall apply to actions required
or affirmatively approved by any statute of this state or of the
United States or by a regulatory agency of this state or of the
United States duly acting under any constitutional or statutory
authority vesting the agency with such power.
(i) In determining whether a restraint related to the sale
or delivery of professional services is reasonable, except in cases
involving price fixing, or other per se violations, the court may
consider, but shall not reach its decision solely on the basis of,
criteria which include: (1) whether the activities involved
maintain or improve the quality of such services to benefit the
public interest; (2) whether the activities involved limit or
reduce the cost of such services to benefit the public interest.
For purposes of this subsection, the term "professional services"
means services performed by any licensed accountant, physician or
other person licensed under Title 3, Occupations Code, or
professional engineer in connection with his or her professional
employment or practice.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.