Rep. Angelia Orr tells 6 News about the process of proposing changes to the way Texas med spas operate in honor of Jenifer Cleveland.
TEMPLE, Texas — The Texas House of Representatives has passed a bill that would increase regulations on the Medical Spa industry. It will still face consideration from the Texas Senate.
Representative Angelia Orr filed House Bill 3749 after a Fairfield woman died after an IV therapy treatment at a Wortham med spa. The proposed bill is named ‘Jenifer’s Law’ in honor of Jenifer Cleveland.
Rep. Orr sat down with 6 News Anchor Lindsay Liepman for an interview about the legislation’s progress.
Liepman: “Tell me just first, the day of testimony on Jennifer’s Law, you know, we heard from a lot of experts but the committee was able to really listen to all sides and kind of all perspectives. For you, do you think that was um really beneficial and, and hopefully moving this bill forward?”
Orr: “Yes, the challenge with any legislation is to get all the stakeholders on the same page and sometimes that’s not possible, but I think that committee hearing really showed that the stakeholders involved are supportive of this. I know it was a really hard committee meeting for her husband Brian Cleveland to be there, but it was, it was so meaningful to have him there just to speak. To have the doctors there that practice here in Texas and to talk about what this legislation is actually going to do for them and some of their businesses. So I thought committee went really well. I appreciated the thoughtful questions that we got from the committee and even since then, you know, I’ve had some offline talks with with other committee members about it. It’s a sad story. And you know, a lot of the bills we do down here don’t come with a sad story, but when they do, it, it really hits home. And we do a lot of things down here, but when it’s something that is personal, like this, that hits hard because it’s actually a a constituent in your area that this happened to, my fellow reps pay attention to things like that. So I think the hearing went well. We expect to be on the calendar on the floor next week, and so,I think that’s gonna go fairly well. We’ve got about 15 co-authors at this point and 2 doctors as joint authors. We’re still working on drumming up support, but the more people I talked to, the more support we’re getting.”
Liepman: “And then at that point, so it would go before a vote before the House, is that what happens and then would go over to the Senate to be consented and then come back?
Orr: “That’s right.”
Liepman: “I was, uh, encouraged by seeing that the Texas Medspa Society is also supporting this. So it’s interesting because I know maybe originally there was pushback, but really, if this gets passed, it would strengthen the med spa industry as well and kind of reduce their liability maybe too.”
Orr: “Our goal was not to put an undue burden on small businesses. I know a lot of med spas are are small business owners. It was the safety component, and it really hadn’t been addressed. And so we worked, my staff has worked so hard this last year trying to figure out how to navigate this because if you have meds spas against you, right, that this is not, this legislation isn’t gonna go well. And so we narrowed it down to the intravenous elective IV that needs to be prescribed and administered by somebody who is a medical professional, and we could all agree on that. And so I think it’s gonna, it’s probably gonna affect some bad actors. But for the good actors, it just reinforces that what they’re doing, they’re doing in a professional manner.”
Liepman: “Do you think if this legislation is passed, it will save lives in the future?”
Orr: “Sadly, I hate to see anybody go through what Jenifer’s family has been through, but I do think this will make people ask more questions. I’ve already had several reps come up to me and say, you know, I’ve been to places where they offered this, and I didn’t even think to ask, uh, is the person putting something in my vein in my bloodstream a medical professional? And did they know what they were doing when they ordered it? So I think it will. I think it’s going to call attention to some maybe some bad actors in the industry, but for those that are doing the right thing, it’s just gonna strengthen them.”
Liepman: “If that moment comes, where it has gone to the governor’s desk, how will you feel about the effort that’s been put in by, you know, your team, your staff and your fellow lawmakers, on behalf of Jenifer and her family? You can’t help but think that, you know, we’re surrounding Mother’s Day weekend and she has children and a young child, um, who will never celebrate a Mother’s Day with her. So, will you feel like, um, being satisfied or, or feel like all that hard work really made a difference?”
Orr: I think so, and everybody that’s been involved in this, as soon as they hear the story, they go, oh wow, OK. I’ve had other people say, oh well, you know, that happened up in XYZ, and we didn’t know why we didn’t know how to prevent it. And so yes, I think we will feel a great deal of satisfaction and, and I hope that the Cleveland family has some peace about it, because they’ve been strong players in this, and they want to do what’s right, and they’ve come at it with a good heart and a good attitude and really when it’s all said and done, that’s all that we can do is make sure if we can, that this doesn’t happen again.
Liepman: “Anything I didn’t ask you that you wanted to touch on? I’ve got the one sheet, so I’ve got all the specifics of what it would entail. Thanks for um sending that. But anything else I didn’t ask?
Orr: “I think the The overarching um thing is at the bottom of that page when you see that it’s been endorsed by the Texas Med Spa Society, the Dermatologist, Texas Nurse Practitioners. That reflects a lot of work on on my team’s effort to really call in the stakeholders and say this is what we’re trying to do. Can you help us? Do you see a need? And by endorsing that they agreed that there was a problem that could be solved and that this was a good solution. This legislation is very reflective of what goes on down here. I know you, I know back home we, we talk about a lot of really uh bipartisan and, far right or far left stances on different policies. But this is the majority of what we do down here. It’s a bipartisan effort of legislators who are trying to do the right thing for Texans and so I’m proud to be a part of that and I’m happy to see that we’re gonna get, get this taken care of.”
We’ll continue to follow Jennifer’s law. There is also an active criminal investigation and civil case underway. You can follow us on 6 Plus and at KCENTV.com for the latest.