AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas lawmakers are advising the state to force nursing homes with a history of abuses to shut down.
The Texas Sunset Advisory Commission recommended the crackdown at its Wednesday meeting in Austin. The proposal urges the Legislature to require the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services to rescind the license of any nursing home with at least three of the gravest violations over a two-year period.
The Republican state senator who made the recommendation says the proposal would only target “the worst of the worst” facilities. He says only seven of the state’s 1,200 nursing homes would be shuttered under such a law.
Some of the panel’s Democratic members have concerns. They say a “three-strikes” law could prematurely force the state’s hand.