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By: Kaden Norton and Josh Massingill Statecraft Lobby Team March 12 was the 60th day of Texas’ 87th Legislative Session, which marks the last day a legislator can file a bill. For the third consecutive session, TCA was able to secure an author for each of its legislative priorities. With the bill filing deadline passed, our focus now shifts to advancing TCA’s priority legislation through the process before the legislature adjourns on May 31, 2021. A brief summary of TCA’s legislative priorities follows: HB 943 (Raymond): Clarifies the conditions under which a licensed chiropractor may perform acupuncture as a modality of chiropractic practice. This is in response to litigation brought against the Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners. HB 2406 (Davis)/SB 1106 (Hughes): Authorizes a chiropractor to offer expert testimony about the causal relationship between an alleged injury and the alleged deviation from the standard of care in a chiropractic malpractice lawsuit (only a physician may do so at this time). HB 3735 (Howard)/SB 2115 (Lucio): Requires a health occupation licensing board to refer a complaint received about a health care provider licensed by another board to that licensing board. HB 3818 (Guillen): Directs the Division of Workers’ Compensation to adjust the Designated Doctor examination fee schedule to account for inflation and reinstates the “no-show” fee for Designated Doctors when an injured worker fails to attend their scheduled examination. In addition to these priorities, TCA has been working with other health care provider associations to advance HB 1445 (Oliverson)/SB 775 (Nichols). These bills are in response to the Texas Comptroller’s determination that sales taxes are applicable to medical billing services, which could result in increased expenses for health care providers (the Comptroller agreed to delay implementation until the legislature had the opportunity to weigh in). We’ll continue to provide updates on these bills (and other issues relevant to chiropractic) over the coming months. As always, we appreciate the opportunity to represent chiropractic’s voice at the Texas Capitol.
By: Kaden Norton and Josh Massingill Statecraft Lobby Team
March 12 was the 60th day of Texas’ 87th Legislative Session, which marks the last day a legislator can file a bill. For the third consecutive session, TCA was able to secure an author for each of its legislative priorities.
With the bill filing deadline passed, our focus now shifts to advancing TCA’s priority legislation through the process before the legislature adjourns on May 31, 2021. A brief summary of TCA’s legislative priorities follows:
We’ll continue to provide updates on these bills (and other issues relevant to chiropractic) over the coming months. As always, we appreciate the opportunity to represent chiropractic’s voice at the Texas Capitol.