By: Deuell S.B. No. 504
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the requirement that certain schoolchildren be screened
for abnormal spinal curvature.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsections (b) and (c), Section 37.001, Health
and Safety Code, are amended to read as follows:
(b) The board, in cooperation with the Texas Education
Agency, shall adopt rules requiring each public school to choose
either to participate in the [for the mandatory] spinal screening
program for [of] children in grades 6 and 9 attending the public [or
private] school or to provide information developed by the
department on abnormal spinal curvature to the parents, managing
conservators, or guardians of children in grades 6 through 9
attending the public school [schools]. The department shall
coordinate the spinal screening program with any other screening
program conducted by the department on those children.
(c) The board shall adopt substantive and procedural rules
necessary to administer screening activities and for the
development and provision of information on abnormal spinal
curvature.
SECTION 2. Section 37.002, Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 37.002. [COMPLIANCE WITH] SCREENING REQUIREMENTS.
(a) If a public school requires an [Each] individual [required by
board rule] to be screened, the individual shall undergo approved
screening for abnormal spinal curvature. The individual's parent,
managing conservator, or guardian may substitute professional
examinations for the screening.
(b) An individual is exempt from screening if screening
conflicts with the tenets and practices of a recognized church or
religious denomination of which the individual is an adherent or a
member. To qualify for the exemption, the individual's parent,
managing conservator, or guardian must submit to the chief
administrator on or before the day of the screening procedure an
affidavit stating the objections to screening. The chief
administrator must make the information on abnormal spinal
curvature developed under Section 37.001 available to the exempted
individual's parent, managing conservator, or guardian.
(c) If screening is required, the [The] chief administrator
of each school shall ensure that each individual admitted to the
school complies with the screening requirements set by the board or
submits an affidavit of exemption.
SECTION 3. Not later than March 1, 2014, the Department of
State Health Services shall develop the information required by
Subsection (b), Section 37.001, Health and Safety Code, as amended
by this Act.
SECTION 4. This Act applies beginning with the 2014-2015
school year.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2013.