With the long line of doctors waiting for licenses to work in Texas growing apace, a bill has been filed in Austin seeking money needed to speed the process.

Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, filed on Tuesday a bill that seeks at least $1 million for the Texas Medical Board so that it can expand its staff that reviews physician license applications.

Dr. Donald Patrick, executive director of the board, said in January his agency required 105 days to process even the most straightforward of applications — after all the required papers have arrived in Austin, which can also be time-consuming. That is up from 18 days at the end of 2002, he said.

The number of applications pending as of Feb. 6 — 2,594 — exceeded by 78 the number of new doctor licenses issued for all of fiscal year 2006, said Jon Opelt, executive director of the Texas Alliance for Patient Access, a medical industry group in Austin that works to reduce medical liability insurance.

Chisum, chair of the House appropriations committee, said Thursday the Legislature is "going to hear the bill and get it out."

"We're all aware of the situation," Chisum said. There are doctors who have failed to win approval within 12 months and "that's just absolutely too long. So both the House members and Senate members are committed to fixing the problem."

The governor's office supports the bill but is not promising passage.

"Of course, the governor's office supports additional funding for the medical board," spokeswoman Krista Moody said. "However, civics lessons tell us we can't force the Legislature to do anything. It's the Legislature's decision what gets on the calendar — and be heard on the floor."

Because the Legislature's session is about to reach its half-way point, Chisum said, "We still have a lot of time to get it done." He added: "It can gain immediate effect if we get a two-thirds vote in both houses."

Influential voices in the medical community are trying to make sure legislators act during the current session.

On March 1, the Texas Medical Association issued a news release calling for a $3.8 million increase in the appropriation for the Texas Medical Board, so that it can expand its staff to keep up with the growing number of applications. The volume rose after voters passed a law limiting lawsuit awards, which reduced the cost of malpractice insurance — making Texas a more attractive place to practice.

"Our 2003 health care liability reforms are attracting quality physicians from around the country," the group's president, Dr. Ladon Homer, wrote. "Texas can't afford to turn away good doctors."

The medical group pointed out that Texas needs to bring in physicians because it ranks low among the states in the number of doctors per capita. And it noted that each doctor creates jobs, with the average one in Texas employing five people — which adds far more to the economy than the $3.8 million cost of the proposal.

On Tuesday, Dr. Dirk Sostman, chief academic officer of The Methodist Hospital System, wrote to Gov. Rick Perry, calling attention to the "serious backlog" of license applications at the Texas Medical Board.

Charles Bailey, general counsel for the Texas Hospital Association, said in January that all Texas hospitals recruiting doctors are experiencing "very substantial delays" that sometimes stretch to a year.

If lawmakers do not bail out the licensing agency, some say Texas is bound to sink lower in the doctors-per-capita ranking.

"Our fear is people will step out of line, having run out of patience, and decide to practice medicine in another state," Opelt said.