Texas Senate bill by Sen. Campbell imposes surcharges to support physician health program

Passed bill authored by State Sen. Donna Campbell seeks to fund the Texas Physician Health Program through surcharges collected by the Texas Medical Board, aiming to support the program’s administration and related oversight activities, according to the Texas Legislature website.

In the Senate, 10 Democrats and 20 Republicans voted in favor of the bill, while one Democrat opposed it.

Meanwhile, in the House, 54 Democrats and 48 Republicans voted in favor, while 31 Republicans voted against it.

Donna Campbell introduced the bill in the Texas Senate on Thursday, March 13, during the 89th regular legislative session.

Campbell graduated from Central State University with a BS.

Campbell, a Republican, was elected to the Texas State Senate in 2013 to represent the state’s 25th Senate district, replacing previous state senator Jeff Wentworth.

According to the Texas Legislature, the bill’s official text was summarized as follows: ‘Relating to the Texas Physician Health Program and the regulation of certain occupations by the Texas Medical Board; expanding the applicability of surcharges’.

The following is our breakdown, based on the actual bill text, and may include interpretation to clarify its provisions.

In essence, this bill amends the Occupations Code to impose surcharges to support the Texas Physician Health Program and related administrative costs. The Texas Medical Board is tasked with collecting a surcharge up to $15 for issuing and renewing registration permits. Funds from these surcharges will be directed to a special account in the general revenue fund, solely for the program’s administration, excluding participant monitoring or medical costs. Additionally, the board will set a surcharge for conducting continuous queries on the National Practitioner Data Bank, with proceeds going to the public assurance account. These surcharges apply to all individuals licensed and regulated by the board. The bill takes immediate effect upon receiving a two-thirds vote in each legislative house; otherwise, it is effective Sept. 1, 2025.

The bill received its final legislative approval on Wednesday, May 28, and was filed without the Governor’s signature on Friday, June 20.

Bills in Texas go through a multi-step legislative process, including committee review, debates, and votes in both chambers before reaching a final decision. Each session, there are typically thousands of bills introduced, but only a portion successfully navigate the process to become law.

You can read more about the bills and other measures here.