By: Perry S.B. No. 1491
(In the Senate - Filed March 5, 2019; March 14, 2019, read
first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
April 8, 2019, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0; April 8, 2019,
sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1491 By: Nelson
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to civil liability of a nursing facility resident's
responsible payor for misappropriation of the resident's funds.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 242, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 242.020 to read as follows:
Sec. 242.020. CIVIL LIABILITY RELATED TO MISAPPROPRIATION
OF RESIDENT'S FUNDS. (a) In this section:
(1) "Misappropriate" means the taking, secretion,
misapplication, deprivation, transfer, or attempted transfer to
any person not entitled to receive any real or personal property or
anything of value belonging or under the legal control of a resident
without the effective consent of the resident or other appropriate
legal authority.
(2) "Responsible payor" means a person who:
(A) has legal access to the resident's income or
resources available to pay for nursing facility care; and
(B) has signed an admission agreement or other
contract with the facility in which the person agrees to provide
payment for the resident's facility care from the resident's income
or resources.
(b) A nursing facility may file an action against a
resident's responsible payor for an amount owed by the resident to
the facility if:
(1) before admission of the resident, the facility
obtains financial information from the resident or responsible
payor demonstrating the amount of financial resources that the
resident has available to pay for nursing facility care; and
(2) after the resident begins to reside at the
facility, the responsible payor misappropriates the resident's
resources to a degree that the resident is unable to afford to pay
for the resident's care.
(c) Subject to Subsection (d), the prevailing party in an
action filed under this section may recover attorney's fees.
(d) In an action filed under this section, a nursing
facility may not recover a total amount, including damages and
attorney's fees, that exceeds the amount the responsible payor has
misappropriated from the resident.
SECTION 2. Section 242.020, Health and Safety Code, as
added by this Act, applies only to a cause of action that accrues on
or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
* * * * *