By: Hall, et al. S.B. No. 250
(In the Senate - Filed November 28, 2022; February 15, 2023,
read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
April 12, 2023, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 9,
Nays 2; April 12, 2023, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the provision of and professional liability insurance
coverage for gender transitioning or gender reassignment medical
procedures and treatments for certain children.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 161, Health and Safety Code, is amended
by adding Subchapter X to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER X. GENDER TRANSITIONING AND GENDER REASSIGNMENT
PROCEDURES AND TREATMENTS FOR CERTAIN CHILDREN
Sec. 161.701. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Child" means an individual who is younger than 18
years of age.
(2) "Health care provider" means a person other than a
physician who is licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized by
this state's laws to provide or render health care or to dispense or
prescribe a prescription drug in the ordinary course of business or
practice of a profession.
(3) "Physician" means a person licensed to practice
medicine in this state.
Sec. 161.702. PROHIBITED PROVISION OF GENDER TRANSITIONING
OR GENDER REASSIGNMENT PROCEDURES AND TREATMENTS TO CERTAIN
CHILDREN. For the purpose of transitioning a child's biological
sex as determined by the sex organs, chromosomes, and endogenous
profiles of the child or affirming the child's perception of the
child's sex if that perception is inconsistent with the child's
biological sex, a physician or health care provider may not:
(1) perform a surgery that sterilizes the child,
including:
(A) castration;
(B) vasectomy;
(C) hysterectomy;
(D) oophorectomy;
(E) metoidioplasty;
(F) orchiectomy;
(G) penectomy;
(H) phalloplasty; and
(I) vaginoplasty;
(2) perform a mastectomy;
(3) prescribe, administer, or supply any of the
following medications that induce transient or permanent
infertility:
(A) puberty-blocking medication to stop or delay
normal puberty;
(B) supraphysiologic doses of testosterone to
females; or
(C) supraphysiologic doses of estrogen to males;
or
(4) remove any otherwise healthy or non-diseased body
part or tissue.
Sec. 161.703. EXCEPTIONS. Section 161.702 does not apply
to the provision by a physician or health care provider, with the
consent of the child's parent or legal guardian, of appropriate and
medically necessary gender transitioning or gender reassignment
procedures or treatments to a child who:
(1) is born with a medically verifiable genetic
disorder of sex development, including:
(A) 46,XX chromosomes with virilization;
(B) 46,XY chromosomes with undervirilization; or
(C) both ovarian and testicular tissue; or
(2) does not have the normal sex chromosome structure
for male or female as determined by a physician through genetic
testing.
Sec. 161.704. DISCIPLINARY ACTION. The Texas Medical Board
or another state regulatory agency with jurisdiction over a health
care provider subject to Section 161.702 shall revoke the license,
certification, or authorization of a physician or health care
provider who the board or agency determines has violated that
section.
SECTION 2. Subchapter F, Chapter 1901, Insurance Code, is
amended by adding Section 1901.256 to read as follows:
Sec. 1901.256. PROHIBITED COVERAGE FOR PROVISION OF CERTAIN
GENDER-RELATED PROCEDURES AND TREATMENTS TO CERTAIN CHILDREN. A
professional liability insurance policy issued to a physician or
health care provider may not include coverage for damages assessed
against the physician or health care provider who provides to a
child gender transitioning or gender reassignment procedures or
treatments that are prohibited by Section 161.702, Health and
Safety Code.
SECTION 3. Section 1901.256, Insurance Code, as added by
this Act, applies only to a medical professional liability
insurance policy that is delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed
on or after the effective date of this Act. An insurance policy
that is delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect
immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. 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, 2023.
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