HBA-MPM, CCH C.S.H.B. 663 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 663 By: Lewis, Ron Public Health 4/4/2001 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE According to the American Academy of Dermatology, skin cancer is the most common and rapidly increasing cancer in the United States. In 1997, an estimated one million new cases of skin cancer were diagnosed, including more than 40,000 cases of malignant melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer. Children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable to sun exposure and severe sunburns at an early age may increase the risk for skin cancer later in life. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services now includes solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation and exposure to sunlamps and sunbeds as human carcinogens. Furthermore, many dermatologists conclude that artificial tanning equipment inflicts more damage in less time than unprotected exposure to sunlight. In Texas, there are approximately seventeen hundred licensed tanning facilities. Current law regulating tanning facilities needs to be amended to account for new information regarding the tremendous increase in cases of skin cancer and the damage of UV rays on children and teenagers. C.S.H.B. 663 requires tanning facilities and the Texas Department of Health to provide information about the dangers of tanning, prohibits persons younger than 13 years of age from using a tanning device at a tanning facility without written permission from a physician and being accompanied to the facility by a parent, and authorizes persons aged 13 through 17 to use a tanning device only under certain circumstances. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill expressly delegates rulemaking authority to the Texas Board of Health in SECTION 3 (Section 145.006) and SECTION 4 (Section 145.008, Health and Safety Code), of this bill. ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 663 amends the Health and Safety Code to require a tanning facility (facility) to provide each customer a written statement warning that a person with skin that always burns easily and never tans or who has a family history of skin cancer should avoid a tanning device (Sec. 145.005). C.S.H.B. 663 requires the Texas Department of Health (TDH) to implement no later than January 1, 2002 and maintain a toll-free telephone number that a customer may call to report an injury resulting from a tanning device or incurred at a tanning facility (Sec. 145.015 and SECTION 6). The bill also requires a facility to state on posted warning signs that a customer may call TDH at a toll-free number to report an injury (Sec. 145.006). C.S.H.B. 663 provides that a customer who is 18 years or older must provide photo identification to a facility before using the device for the first time. The bill prohibits a tanning facility from allowing anyone younger than 13 years of age to use a tanning device unless the facility receives written permission from the person's physician and the person's parent or guardian remains at the facility while the person uses the device. The bill provides that before a person aged 16 or 17 uses a device for the first time, the person must submit to the facility operator written informed consent from a parent or guardian. Additionally, a person who is 13, 14, or 15 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian who must remain at the facility while the person uses the device (Sec. 145.008). The bill requires TDH to provide each applicant for an original or renewal license a written copy of the Fitzpatrick scale for classifying skin types. The bill requires a facility's records of each customer to include the customer's skin type based on the Fitzpatrick scale, and whether the customer has a past medical or family history of skin cancer. An operator of a tanning facility is required to keep and maintain an incident log at each facility for three years after an incident. The board is required to prescribe by rule no later than November 1, 2001 the form and content of the log that is required to list each injury, customer not wearing protective eyewear, mechanical problem with a tanning device, and customer complaint (Sec. 145.008 and SECTION 6). EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 663 modifies the original bill by requiring require a tanning facility (facility) to provide each customer a written statement warning that a person with skin that always burns easily and never tans rather than a person with pale eyes or very fair skin that always burns and never tans should avoid a tanning device (Sec. 145.005). The substitute removes provisions in the original that require operators of facilities to post color photos showing magnified lesions of a person with carcinoma or melanoma (Sec. 145.006). The original prohibited any person younger than 18 from using a tanning device, whereas the substitute prohibits persons younger than 13 years of age from using a tanning device and makes specific provisions for those persons aged 13 through 17 years to use a tanning device under certain circumstances. The substitute removes the requirement in the original that the records of each customer using a tanning device include information stating the customer's eye color (Sec. 145.008). The substitute removes provisions in the original that required the Texas Department of Health to conduct an education program to inform the public about the dangers of tanning and that required the board to increase the license fee collected to allow TDH to recover its costs in implementing the education program.