HBA-MPM S.B. 1590 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisS.B. 1590
By: Moncrief
Human Services
5/16/2001
Engrossed



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, the admissibility of certain Texas Department of Human Services
(DHS) documents and testimony is unclear, confusing, and not uniformly
applied in civil trials.  Senate Bill 1590 clarifies that any DHS document
or testimony that is otherwise admissible under the Texas Rules of Evidence
is also admissible in a civil trial that involves a convalescent or nursing
home or related institution or an intermediate care facility for the
mentally retarded. 

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

Senate Bill 1590 amends the Human Resources Code related to the medical
assistance program to authorize a record of the Health and Human Services
Commission (HHSC), including a record of a survey, complaint or incident
investigation, or survey report that relates to an institution, including
an intermediate care facility for the mentally retarded (ICF-MR), to be
introduced into evidence in a civil or enforcement action or related
proceeding if the record is admissible under the Texas Rules of Evidence.
The bill authorizes a HHSC surveyor or investigator to testify in a civil
action as to observations, factual findings, conclusions or violations of
requirements for licensure or certification for participation in the state
Medicaid program that were made in the discharge of official duties if the
testimony is admissible under the Texas Rules of Evidence. 

The bill repeals the provision that provisions governing the admissibility
of an HHSC record do not: 

_apply in an enforcement action or related proceeding in which the state or
an agency or political subdivision of the state is a party; 

_prohibit or limit the testimony of a department survey or investigator in
a civil action; or 

_bar the admission into evidence in a civil action of certain HHSC records
offered to establish warning or notice to an institution of a relevant
finding or offered under any rule or evidentiary predicate of the Texas
Rules of Civil Evidence. 

The bill amends the Health and Safety Code to provide that provisions
governing the admissibility of records and testimony by HHSC also govern
the admissibility of records and testimony of the Texas Department of Human
Services in a civil action against convalescent and nursing homes and
related institutions or ICF-MRs.  

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act
takes effect September 1, 2001.