Sec. 154.057.  CONDUCT OF INVESTIGATION;  USE OF INVESTIGATORS AS PEACE OFFICERS.  (a)  Except as otherwise provided by this subchapter, each investigation of a complaint filed under this subtitle shall be conducted by the board or by a person authorized by the board to conduct the investigation.
(b)  Except as provided by Subsection (b-1), the board shall complete a preliminary investigation of the complaint not later than the 45th day after the date of receiving the complaint.  The board shall first determine whether the physician constitutes a continuing threat to the public welfare.  On completion of the preliminary investigation, the board shall determine whether to officially proceed on the complaint.  If the board fails to complete the preliminary investigation in the time required by this subsection, the board's official investigation of the complaint is considered to commence on that date.
(b-1)  The board, for good cause, may extend a preliminary investigation under Subsection (b) for not more than 15 days after the date required for completion under that subsection.
(c)  The board may commission investigators as peace officers to enforce this subtitle.  An investigator commissioned as a peace officer under this subsection may not carry a firearm or exercise the powers of arrest.
Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 388, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.
Amended by: 
Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 269 (S.B. 419), Sec. 1.19, eff. September 1, 2005.
Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 1349 (H.B. 680), Sec. 3, eff. September 1, 2011.
Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1231 (H.B. 1504), Sec. 5, eff. September 1, 2019.