Bill Text: TX HB1491 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to authority to suspend the entry of persons from designated places.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-03 - Referred to State Affairs [HB1491 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB1491-Introduced.html
| By: Harrison | H.B. No. 1491 | |
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| relating to authority to suspend the entry of persons from | ||
| designated places. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Subtitle D, Title 2, Health and Safety Code, is | ||
| amended by adding Chapter 81B to read as follows: | ||
| Chapter 81B. Suspension of entry of persons from designated places | ||
| to prevent spread of communicable diseases | ||
| Sec. 81B.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter: | ||
| (1) "COVID-19" means the 2019 novel coronavirus disease. | ||
| (2) "Federally declared public health emergency" means: | ||
| (A) a public health emergency declared by the United | ||
| States Secretary of Health and Human Services under 42 U.S.C. | ||
| Section 247d; or | ||
| (B) an emergency or disaster declared, including under | ||
| a renewal of the declaration, by the president of the United States | ||
| in relation to a public health emergency described by Paragraph (A) | ||
| under: | ||
| (i) the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. | ||
| Section 1601 et seq.); or | ||
| (ii) the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and | ||
| Emergency Assistant Act (42 U.S.C. Section 5121 et seq.). | ||
| (3) "Port of entry" means a port of entry in the United | ||
| States, as defined by part 101 of the customs regulations (19 CFR | ||
| part 101). | ||
| (4) "Person" means any individual other than (i) one | ||
| described in the first sentence of section 1 of the Fourteenth | ||
| Amendment to the United States Constitution or (ii) one described | ||
| in 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(20). | ||
| Sec. 81B.002. SUSPENSION OF ENTRY. (a) During any of the | ||
| following, all persons entering Texas by land from another country | ||
| must pass through a legal port of entry for appropriate medical | ||
| review: | ||
| (1) the pendency of any federally declared public | ||
| health emergency for COVID-19, | ||
| (2) at any time which the federal government has in | ||
| place any vaccination requirements for any person lawfully | ||
| residing in the United States, including but not limited to | ||
| government contractors or healthcare workers, for the purposes of | ||
| preventing the spread of COVID-19 in the United States, or | ||
| (3) at any time which the U.S. Department of State has | ||
| travel warnings for COVID-19 for any country from which citizens | ||
| have illegally entered the United States during the most recent | ||
| year for which there is available data. | ||
| (b) Any person who enters the State of Texas from a foreign | ||
| country other than in accordance with subsection (a) of this | ||
| section, shall be removed to the country from which they entered the | ||
| United States, or their country of origin, or another location as | ||
| practicable, as rapidly as possible, with as little time spent in | ||
| congregate settings as practicable under the circumstances. | ||
| SECTION 2. 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. | ||
