Latest news with #Schwertner
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
On final day of session, Gov. Abbott vetoes Botox patient safety bill filed after KXAN investigation
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed legislation which aimed to enhance Botox patient safety and transparency Monday, calling the measure 'unnecessary and overly-burdensome' for business in Texas. Senate Bill 378 would have prohibited barbers, cosmetologists and estheticians from administering Botox and other injectables unless they were licensed or authorized to give the shots. The measure would also have given the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation more disciplinary authority over those professionals. 'The passage of SB 378 is a critical step that protects the public from unqualified individuals administering potentially dangerous injections. This common-sense legislation ensures cosmetologists and barbers are not performing injections without proper physician supervision,' the bill's author, Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, explained after the measure was sent to the governor on May 21. KXAN has reached out to Schwertner's office for comment after the veto. 'Texas should be removing barriers for small businesses and occupational licensees,' Senate Secretary Patsy Spaw said on the chamber floor Monday, reading the governor's written words verbatim. 'Senate Bill 378 by Schwertner does just the opposite by, among other things, prohibiting a licensed cosmetologist or barber from 'making an incision into the dermis, layer of a person's skin.' Barbers who nick a customer's neck during a straight razor shave should not fear the loss of their licenses as we work to make government more efficient and less intrusive for Texans and businesses.' While most of the governor's vetoes will be delivered after the session, SB 378's passage timeline required him to take action sooner or the bill would have gone into law without his signature. It is his first veto of a Senate bill this session. 'I disapprove of this bill,' Abbott wrote to Senators before sine die, the official end of the session. 'Since you remain gathered in regular session and continue to conduct formal business, I am delivering this disapproval message directly to you along with the unsigned official enrolled copy of the bill.' Schwertner told lawmakers earlier in the session there have been increased reports of 'Botox parties' which include unauthorized and unsafe injections to friends and family without proper supervision. RELATED: 'Botox party' bill heads to governor Schwertner previously shared with KXAN investigators that, by law, estheticians and cosmetologists can only perform injections, including Botox, under the authority of a physician. He added that while the Texas Medical Board has disciplinary authority over physicians who are authorizing the injections, there is no oversight when it comes to professionals including estheticians or cosmetologists who could be in violation. During a House committee hearing in April, lawmakers received nearly 50 written comments from many Texas estheticians and injectors opposing the legislation and sharing concerns about their businesses being impacted. KXAN INVESTIGATION: Backroom Botox a 'wild west' in Texas Patient protection advocates have been pushing for oversight in the growing industry. The legislation was filed after a KXAN investigation uncovered that anyone in Texas can become certified to do injections, including Botox. KXAN's 'Backroom Botox' investigation highlighted medical concerns after a Botox treatment led to an emergency in the back room of a local boutique in Dublin, a city north of Austin. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
How a $350M nuclear power proposal could transform Texas' energy landscape
A sweeping proposal to provide up to $350 million to private companies to help them build advanced nuclear power generation plants in Texas is one step away from reaching Gov. Greg Abbott's desk after the House author said Thursday that he expects the chamber to accept tweaks made by the Senate. "Yessir," state Rep. Cody Harris, R-Palestine, told the American-Statesman in a text message response to a question about whether he'll recommend sending the Senate's version of the bill to the governor. Abbott signaled early in the legislative session that he looks forward to signing such a measure into law. House Bill 14, by Harris and sponsored in the Senate by Georgetown Republican Sen. Charles Schwertner, would establish the Texas Advanced Nuclear Energy Office and the Advanced Nuclear Development Fund under the governor's office. The new agency and funding arm would assess the need for additional nuclear generation or explore ways to promote future plant construction. The bill sets up guidelines and benchmarks for companies planning to develop nuclear plants to help meet Texas' seemingly insatiable appetite for electric power, and it makes available public financial assistance for both planning and constructing power plants. "Advancements in nuclear energy offer a promising opportunity to strengthen our electric grid with reliable, dispatchable generation while supporting the growth of this innovative industry," Schwertner said as he explained the Senate version of HB 14. Both chambers passed the bill with bipartisan support, though there was some skepticism expressed about the funding provisions. "Would it not make more sense to maybe do a revolving loan so that they (power companies) would pay them back and we could re-enter and save more money into the system and encourage more nuclear development?" state Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, asked Schwertner. The proposed grant system would be a more persuasive tool, Schwertner responded. Plus, he added, the legislation contains payback provisions if companies do not deliver what they promised. "They do have risk," he said. Under HB 14, the state Public Utility Commission will develop a framework to tie grant amounts to the amount of electric generation a project would produce. In his State of the State address shortly after the Legislature convened in January, Abbott called for a "nuclear renaissance" in Texas to ensure that the rapidly growing state can meet the demand for power that comes with not only adding to its population, but also attracting more commercial and industrial development. Texas is home to two nuclear power plants, but both are aging. The Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant's first phase was completed in 1990 after several delays and setbacks since construction began in 1974. The second phase of the plant, which is about 60 miles southwest of Fort Worth, went online in 1993. The South Texas Project in Matagorda County, about 90 miles south of Houston, began operations in 1988. More: Why Texas A&M University wants state-of-the-art nuclear power plants on its campus As of last year, there were 54 commercially operating nuclear power plants with 94 nuclear power reactors in 28 states, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Illinois has 11 reactors, the most of any state. The nation's largest nuclear power source, the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Georgia, has four reactors. The average age of all U.S. nuclear plants is around 42. Reed Clay, president of the Texas Nuclear Alliance, called the legislation "a giant leap forward for our state and our country." He predicted it would revive an industry that "was all but dead for decades." "With the passage of H.B. 14 and associated legislation, Texas is positioned to lead a nuclear renaissance that is now rightly seen as imperative for the energy security and national security of the United States," Clay said in a statement to the Statesman. Meanwhile, Texas A&M University's research-focused RELLIS campus near the system's flagship institution is working to develop a nuclear generation project just a fraction of the size of traditional nuclear plants like those in Comanche Peak, and the South Texas Project. The university's permit is awaiting approval from the NRC. Also, Natura Resources is seeking federal approval for a nuclear plant in Abilene. The first small modular reactor in Texas will be located on Dow's Seadrift plant just north of San Antonio Bay near Victoria. Dow is partnering with the company X-energy on the project that was bolstered by an initial $80 million grant from the U.S. Energy Department. The formal permit application was filed with the NRC in March. Called "small modular reactors," the newer-generation plants are a fraction of the size and can be manufactured offsite, trucked to their permanent locations and buried underground, which proponents say is both safer and better protects them from being targeted by terrorists or other hostile forces. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas lawmakers near nuclear bill passage. How it'll help power grid.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
‘Botox party' bill scheduled for House vote
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Proposed legislation to enhance patient safety and tighten Texas laws over who can administer Botox injections — and similar treatments — is scheduled for a vote Monday. After a vote of 12-0 in the Texas House Licensing & Administrative Procedures Committee on May 10, Senate Bill 378 moved out of that House committee without any amendments. SB 378 passed the Senate in late March and was heard by the House committee on April 29. It was initially left pending in the Texas House Licensing & Administrative Procedures Committee after receiving nearly 50 written comments, most of which opposed the legislation. The comments included several from estheticians and injectors concerned about their small businesses being impacted. RELATED: 'Botox party' bill step closer to becoming Texas law The bill, authored by State Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, pushes for patient safety and transparency and would prohibit estheticians, cosmetologists and barbers from administering injections and using prescriptive medical devices unless they are legally licensed and authorized to perform the acts. The legislation was filed after a KXAN investigation uncovered that anyone in Texas can become certified to do injections, including Botox. In May, KXAN's 'Backroom Botox' investigation highlighted the need for patient safety after a Botox treatment led to a medical emergency in the back room of a local boutique in Dublin, a city north of Austin. KXAN INVESTIGATION: Backroom Botox a 'wild west' in Texas After KXAN's investigation, Schwertner told KXAN investigators previously there have been increased reports of 'Botox parties' which include unauthorized and unsafe injections to friends and family without proper supervision. According to the bill analysis, while the Texas Medical Board, or TMB, has disciplinary authority over physicians who are supposed to be authorizing the injections, current statute is 'silent' on both the TMB's and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation's authority to pursue the licensed esthetician or cosmetologist who are in violation. RELATED: Texas pushes to tighten rules for Botox, similar Treatments The legislation would provide TDLR the authority to take disciplinary action against those administering unauthorized injections. KXAN will continue to update this story with any developments Monday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
‘Botox party' bill step closer to becoming Texas law
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas House Licensing & Administrative Procedures Committee heard Senate Bill 378 late Tuesday night. The proposed legislation pushes for patient safety and transparency on who can administer Botox injections and similar treatments. The bill authored by State Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, was left pending in committee. It would prohibit estheticians, cosmetologists and barbers from administering injections and using prescriptive medical devices unless they are legally licensed and authorized to perform the acts. RELATED: 'The Botox party bill' moving forward in legislature The bill analysis states that, by law, estheticians and cosmetologist can only perform injections, including Botox, under the authority of a physician. Schwertner has told KXAN investigators previously that there have been increased reports of 'Botox parties' which include unauthorized and unsafe injections to friends and family without proper supervision. The legislation would give the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation authority to take disciplinary action against those administering unauthorized injections. RELATED: Texas pushes to tighten rules for Botox, similar treatments According to the bill analysis, while the Texas Medical Board or TMB has disciplinary authority over physicians who are supposed to be authorizing the injections, current statute is 'silent' on both TMB and TDLR's authority to pursue the licensed esthetician or cosmetologist who are in violation. 'This bill ensures that only qualified medical professionals are providing these treatments. This can help prevent potential harm and adverse effects that can occur from unlicensed and unauthorized administration of injections,' said the bill analysis. The House committee received nearly 50 written comments with most opposing the legislation, including several from estheticians and injectors concerned about their small businesses being impacted. 'Please think of ME, a licensed esthetician who has 600 active injectable clients who trust me and only me with their face because I have immense knowledge and have sacrificed 5 years to this business,' said Morgan Mills, an esthetician and medical spa owner. Dacia Cahanin-Salinas, an aesthetic injector, wrote 'Senate Bill 378 doesn't protect public safety — it limits it,' adding that 'even licensed professionals — including physicians — must seek additional, non-traditional training to practice aesthetic injections safely.' She explained Texas should create a standardized, state-accredited training program with a required exam. 'Anyone — licensed or not — would be required to complete this training, prove their knowledge, and demonstrate safe technique before being allowed to inject,' Cahanin-Salinas wrote. 'When it comes to protecting Texans, competency matters more than credentials. Let's raise the standards — not build walls.' KXAN INVESTIGATION: Backroom Botox a 'wild west' in Texas The legislation was filed after a KXAN investigation uncovered that anyone in Texas can become certified to do injections, including Botox. In May, KXAN's 'Backroom Botox' investigation highlighted the need for patient safety after a Botox treatment led to a medical emergency in the backroom of a local boutique in Dublin, a city north of Austin. The Texas Senate passed Schwertner's bill in March. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Texas tort reform proposal could curb pricey verdicts in personal injury cases. Here's why
Texas Republican lawmakers are pushing to overhaul how juries award damages in personal injury and wrongful death cases, generating a flurry of spending on advertisements for and against the proposal by business and legal groups. Senate Bill 30, by Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, aims to restrain a 'rise in substantial verdicts' by limiting the medical costs that plaintiffs can claim to 300% of Medicare reimbursement rates and raising the standard of evidence for noneconomic damages for mental anguish and physical pain and suffering. The tort reform bill would address 'a fundamental unfairness in civil trials over torts' and 'an unstable legal environment that is driving up costs for Texas families and businesses,' Schwertner, an orthopedic surgeon, told his colleagues on the Senate floor. The Senate passed the measure by a 20-11 party-line vote Wednesday evening, advancing the bill to the House. Introduced soon after the state's new business courts began operating, SB 30 is part of a broader effort by Republican state leaders to make Texas more attractive to corporations by limiting avenues for costly litigation against businesses. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the three-term Republican who presides over the Senate, has designated the bill a priority alongside SB 31, which would make it harder for shareholders to sue publicly-traded companies, and SB 39, which would change how and when trucking companies can be held liable for accidents involving their drivers. All three bills are supported by Texans for Lawsuit Reform, an influential political action committee that received $1 million from Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in October. Musk moved both companies' headquarters to the Austin area last year. More: Will a Texas bill shield trucking companies from crash lawsuits? It depends on who you ask Supporters of SB 30, such as the Lone Star Economic Alliance, say the bill will " bring balance back to the courtroom, protect small businesses, and reduce inflated costs that ultimately burden all Texans.' But the legislation has generated significant controversy, as was shown during seven hours of public testimony at a Senate State Affairs committee hearing and two hours of debate on the Senate floor. Democratic lawmakers and civil plaintiff attorneys say the bill would let defendants escape proportional punishment for wrongs they commit, particularly in sexual assault cases. Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, argued that SB 30 would decrease potential awards low enough to keep lawyers from taking some cases. 'Your constituents, from Brownsville down to El Paso, are going to have to face the reality that they're not going to have access to the courthouse because lawyers are not going to do it,' Gutierrez said on the floor. 'They're not going to go through the expense of having to fund these things if these damages are going to be done in such a way that their clients are not going to be made whole in a real way.' The Texas Trial Lawyers Association, a major donor to both Democrats as well as Republicans, is at the forefront of opposition to the measure. The organization's president, Jack Walker, told the American-Statesman that he believes the bill is a 'money grab' for insurance companies. 'The more severely injured or damaged a victim is, the more this bill prohibits their recovery,' Walker said in a phone interview. Consumer watchdog group Texas Watch also testified in opposition to the bill. Schwertner's proposal limits the medical costs that plaintiffs can claim to 300% of the 2025 Medicare reimbursement rate with an adjustment for inflation. The provision is meant to prevent lawyers from 'colluding with providers who overdiagnose, overbill and overtreat' victims to come up with inflated medical charges, the bill's author said. It would also require lawyers to disclose their relationship to doctors involved in treatment in certain cases. Opponents of the bill pointed out that doctors sometimes refuse to treat accident victims who can't pay for their costs upfront. Gutierrez — an attorney who founded a legal firm with offices in Austin, San Antonio and McAllen — said that in personal injury cases he has occasionally represented, 'I'd send (victims) to the one doctor that I knew that would sign a letter of protection and not take any money, because these people didn't have any money, they didn't have insurance,' he said. Noneconomic damages are also a point of contention in the proposed legislation. Currently, juries can look at each of six different categories, including disfigurement, loss of companionship and loss of enjoyment, to determine noneconomic damages. SB 30 would combine those six into two — past and future 'mental or emotional pain and anguish' and 'physical pain and suffering' — and raise the standards of proof for each. Past and future reputation damage is also included in the law. Plaintiffs would need to prove their injuries through medical records to back up claims of suffering, or, in the case of sexual assault victims, show they made a 'prior consistent statement' or have documents proving their injuries. Schwertner added the additional language regarding sexual assault victims in a floor amendment after Sens. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, and Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, raised concerns during the committee hearing. Walker, the Texas Trial Lawyers Association president, argues that the added language isn't enough to ensure fair compensation in such cases, in which decades may have passed between the assault and the litigation and thus medical evidence is difficult to obtain. 'In cases of grooming, most of the time, there is no consistent statement because the groomer requires silence,' Walker said. 'The victim, during childhood, often doesn't realize what is happening to them.' Several pro-business interest groups are advocating for the bill, including Texans for Lawsuit Reform, a political action committee that is a top donor to Texas Republicans and contributed $25 million to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in the 2024 elections. Additionally, the Lone Star Economic Alliance and a national business group, Protecting American Consumers Together, each announced six-figure and seven-figure ad buys, respectively, this month. 'Informed juries are better juries,' reads a billboard sponsored by the Lone Star Economic Alliance. Countering that, a new and little-known group called Citizens for Integrity and Accountability ran a television ad opposing SB 30 on Fox News, Brad Johnson of The Texan reported April 3. The ad says the bill 'limits damages that victims can get from Chinese corporations, drug companies and priests found guilty of child molestation.' During floor debate, Schwertner and Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, rejected claims that the bill would prevent Chinese-owned companies from facing accountability in the U.S. A major concern of the bill's supporters are so-called 'nuclear verdicts,' which happen when juries award damages of more than $10 million in a single personal injury or death case. In his intent statement for SB 30, Schwertner wrote that 'lack of clear guidance' in the law 'makes juries susceptible to being misled by arbitrary figures or comparisons to unrelated cases that distort their perception of fair compensation.' To address this, the bill directs that noneconomic damages are 'prohibited from being used to penalize or punish a defendant, make an example to others, or serve a social good,' as distinct from punitive damages. Opponents of the bill argue that it would limit their ability to force defendants to fix their behavior, whether through a major lawsuit or the threat of one. 'We can say, 'You have got to make policy changes, or this is what you're facing,'' Dallas-based attorney Charla Aldous said in the March 31 Senate hearing. 'Then, after we get a nuclear verdict, we can use that verdict to effectuate the policy changes.' Rep. Greg Bonnen, R-Angleton, is carrying SB 30's companion, House Bill 4806, in the lower chamber. Bonnen is a close ally of House Speaker Dustin Burrows and chairs of the House Appropriations Committee. Like Schwertner, he is also a physician. The bill has not yet been referred to a House committee. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas tort reform bill generates controversy, spending war
