By: Zedler (Senate Sponsor - Eltife) H.B. No. 2627
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 29, 2013;
April 30, 2013, read first time and referred to Committee on Health
and Human Services; May 13, 2013, reported favorably by the
following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 13, 2013, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the issuance of remedial plans to resolve complaints
filed with the Texas Optometry Board; authorizing a fee.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter K, Chapter 351, Occupations Code, is
amended by adding Section 351.509 to read as follows:
Sec. 351.509. REMEDIAL PLAN. (a) The board may issue and
establish the terms of a remedial plan to resolve the investigation
of a complaint filed under this chapter.
(b) A remedial plan may not contain a provision that:
(1) revokes, suspends, limits, or restricts a person's
license or other authorization to practice optometry or therapeutic
optometry; or
(2) assesses an administrative penalty against a
person.
(c) A remedial plan may not be imposed to resolve a
complaint:
(1) concerning:
(A) a death;
(B) a hospitalization; or
(C) the commission of a felony; or
(2) in which the appropriate resolution may involve a
restriction on the manner in which a license holder practices
optometry or therapeutic optometry.
(d) The board may not issue a remedial plan to resolve a
complaint against a license holder if the license holder has
entered into a remedial plan with the board in the preceding 24
months for the resolution of a different complaint filed under this
chapter.
(e) If a license holder complies with and successfully
completes the terms of a remedial plan, the board shall remove all
records of the remedial plan from the board's records on the second
anniversary of the date the license holder successfully completes
the remedial plan.
(f) The board may assess a fee against a license holder
participating in a remedial plan in an amount necessary to recover
the costs of administering the plan.
(g) The board shall adopt rules necessary to implement this
section.
SECTION 2. The Texas Optometry Board shall adopt rules
under Section 351.509, Occupations Code, as added by this Act, not
later than January 1, 2014.
SECTION 3. Section 351.509, Occupations Code, as added by
this Act, applies only to a complaint under Chapter 351,
Occupations Code, filed on or after the effective date of this Act.
A complaint under Chapter 351, Occupations Code, filed before that
date is governed by the law in effect on the date the complaint was
filed, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
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