HBA-EDN H.B. 2956 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2956
By: King, Phil
State Affairs
3/28/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, there are both licensed and unlicenced facilities which provide
abortion services to women. Some of the clinics advertising abortion
services in telephone books across the state are not licensed by the Texas
Department of Health (TDH).  As a result, TDH is unable to provide any
information on those facilities to a person who seeks such information and
has no regulatory authority over the standards of care in those clinics.
House Bill 2956 prohibits a facility that is not licensed from advertising
its services in the yellow pages.         

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 2956 amends the Health and Safety Code to prohibit a facility
from advertising the availability of abortion services at the facility in
the yellow pages of a telephone directory, unless the facility is licensed
under the Texas Abortion Facility Reporting and Licensing Act. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.