84R2185 LED-D
By: Lucio III H.B. No. 1063
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to state assistance to certain counties for indigent
burial costs.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 694, Health and Safety Code, is amended
by adding Section 694.004 to read as follows:
Sec. 694.004. STATE ASSISTANCE FOR CERTAIN ELIGIBLE
COUNTIES. (a) In this section, "department" means the Department
of State Health Services.
(b) This section applies only to a county that is adjacent
to the Gulf of Mexico and an international border.
(c) The department may distribute funds as provided by this
section to an eligible county to assist the county in providing for
the disposition of the body of a deceased pauper under this chapter.
(d) The executive commissioner of the Health and Human
Services Commission shall adopt rules governing the application
procedures and the eligibility requirements for assistance under
this section. The procedures must provide that the department
shall make a determination with respect to an application for
assistance not later than the 90th day after the date the
application is submitted to the department in accordance with the
procedures established by the department.
(e) The department shall provide assistance to a county that
applies for assistance if the department determines that the county
meets the department's eligibility requirements adopted under this
section.
SECTION 2. (a) Not later than December 1, 2015, the
executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission
shall adopt the rules necessary to implement Section 694.004,
Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act.
(b) Section 694.004, Health and Safety Code, as added by
this Act, applies only to an application for assistance submitted
by a county for approval on or after January 1, 2016.
SECTION 3. 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, 2015.