By: Price, Fallon H.B. No. 2804
(Senate Sponsor - Taylor of Collin)
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 5, 2017;
May 5, 2017, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal
Justice; May 19, 2017, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 19, 2017, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the emergency scheduling of certain controlled
substances for the purpose of the prosecution and punishment of
certain offenses under the Texas Controlled Substances Act;
expanding the application of certain criminal offenses.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Section 481.0355, Health and
Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 481.0355. EMERGENCY SCHEDULING; LEGISLATIVE REPORT.
SECTION 2. Section 481.0355, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subsections (c), (d), (f), and (g) and adding
Subsections (f-1) and (h) to read as follows:
(c) Before emergency scheduling a substance as a controlled
substance under this section, the commissioner shall consult with
the Department of Public Safety [regarding the chemical structure
of compounds contained in that substance,] and may emergency
schedule the substance only in accordance with any recommendations
provided by the department.
(d) In determining whether a substance poses an imminent
hazard to the public safety, the commissioner shall consider[, in
addition to the factors provided by Section 481.034(d)]:
(1) the scope, duration, [and] symptoms, or
significance of abuse;
(2) the degree of detriment that abuse of the
substance may cause;
(3) whether the substance has been temporarily
scheduled under federal law; and
(4) whether the substance has been temporarily or
permanently scheduled under the law of another state.
(f) Except as otherwise provided by Subsection (f-1), an
[An] emergency scheduling under this section expires on September 1
of each odd-numbered year for any scheduling that occurs before
January 1 of that year.
(f-1) The commissioner may extend the emergency scheduling
of a substance under this section not more than once and for a
period not to exceed one year by publishing the extension in the
Texas Register. If the commissioner extends the emergency
scheduling of a substance, an emergency exists for purposes of
Section 481.036(c) and the action takes effect on the date the
extension is published in the Texas Register.
(g) The commissioner shall post notice about each emergency
scheduling of a substance or each extension of an emergency
scheduling of a substance under this section on the Internet
website of the Department of State Health Services.
(h) Not later than December 1 of each even-numbered year,
the commissioner shall submit a report about each emergency
scheduling action taken under this section during the preceding
two-year period to the governor, the lieutenant governor, the
speaker of the house of representatives, and each legislative
standing committee with primary jurisdiction over the department
and each legislative standing committee with primary jurisdiction
over criminal justice matters.
SECTION 3. (a) Sections 481.0355(c) and (d), Health and
Safety Code, as amended by this Act, apply only to a controlled
substance emergency scheduled under that section on or after the
effective date of this Act.
(b) Section 481.0355(f-1), Health and Safety Code, as added
by this Act, applies to an extension that occurs on or after the
effective date of this Act, regardless of whether the controlled
substance was emergency scheduled under Section 481.0355, Health
and Safety Code, before, on, or after that date.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
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