84R3160 SCL-F
By: Schaefer H.B. No. 832
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to reporting requirements for a physician performing an
abortion at an abortion facility.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 245.005(e), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(e) As a condition for renewal of a license, the licensee
must submit to the department the annual license renewal fee and an
annual report[, including the report required under Section
245.011].
SECTION 2. The heading to Section 245.011, Health and
Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 245.011. PHYSICIAN REPORTING REQUIREMENTS; CRIMINAL
PENALTY.
SECTION 3. Section 245.011, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subsections (a), (b), (d), and (e) and adding
Subsections (f) and (g) to read as follows:
(a) A physician who performs an abortion at an [Each]
abortion facility must complete and submit a monthly [an annual]
report to the department on each abortion [that is] performed by the
physician at the abortion facility. The report must be submitted on
a form provided by the department.
(b) The report may not identify by any means [the physician
performing the abortion or] the patient.
(d) Except as provided by Section 245.023, all information
and records held by the department under this chapter are
confidential and are not open records for the purposes of Chapter
552, Government Code. That information may not be released or made
public on subpoena or otherwise, except that release may be made:
(1) for statistical purposes, but only if a person,
patient, physician performing an abortion, or abortion facility is
not identified;
(2) with the consent of each person, patient,
physician, and abortion facility identified in the information
released;
(3) to medical personnel, appropriate state agencies,
or county and district courts to enforce this chapter; or
(4) to appropriate state licensing boards to enforce
state licensing laws.
(e) A person commits an offense if the person violates
Subsection (b), (c), or (d) [this section]. An offense under this
subsection is a Class A misdemeanor.
(f) Not later than the 15th day of each month, a physician
shall submit to the department the report required by this section
for each abortion performed by the physician at an abortion
facility in the preceding calendar month.
(g) The department shall establish and maintain a secure
electronic reporting system for the submission of the reports
required by this section. The department shall adopt procedures to
enforce this section and to ensure that only physicians who perform
one or more abortions during the preceding calendar month are
required to file the reports under this section for that month.
SECTION 4. Chapter 245, Health and Safety Code, is amended
by adding Sections 245.0115 and 245.0116 to read as follows:
Sec. 245.0115. NOTIFICATION. Not later than the seventh
day after the date the report required by Section 245.011 is due,
the commissioner of state health services shall notify the Texas
Medical Board of a violation of that section. The board shall treat
the notification as a complaint filed with the board.
Sec. 245.0116. DEPARTMENT REPORT. (a) The department
shall publish on its Internet website a monthly report containing
aggregate data of the information in the reports submitted under
Section 245.011.
(b) The department's monthly report may not identify by any
means an abortion facility, a physician performing the abortion, or
a patient.
SECTION 5. The Department of State Health Services shall
establish a secure electronic reporting system under Section
245.011(g), Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, not later
than September 1, 2016.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.