By: Giddings (Senate Sponsor - West) H.B. No. 2646
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 18, 2015;
May 18, 2015, read first time and referred to Committee on Health
and Human Services; May 22, 2015, reported favorably by the
following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 22, 2015, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the disclosure of information regarding communicable
diseases to first responders and certain entities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 81.046, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subsections (b), (c), and (f) and adding
Subsections (c-1), (c-2), and (g) to read as follows:
(b) Reports, records, and information relating to cases or
suspected cases of diseases or health conditions are not public
information under Chapter 552, Government Code, and may not be
released or made public on subpoena or otherwise except as provided
by Subsections (c), (c-1), (d), and (f).
(c) Medical or epidemiological information, including
information linking a person who is exposed to a person with a
communicable disease, may be released:
(1) for statistical purposes if released in a manner
that prevents the identification of any person;
(2) with the consent of each person identified in the
information;
(3) to medical personnel treating the individual,
appropriate state agencies in this state or another state, a health
authority or local health department in this state or another
state, or federal, county, or district courts to comply with this
chapter and related rules relating to the control and treatment of
communicable diseases and health conditions or under another state
or federal law that expressly authorizes the disclosure of this
information;
(4) to appropriate federal agencies, such as the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States
Public Health Service, but the information must be limited to the
name, address, sex, race, and occupation of the patient, the date of
disease onset, the probable source of infection, and other
requested information relating to the case or suspected case of a
communicable disease or health condition; [or]
(5) to medical personnel to the extent necessary in a
medical emergency to protect the health or life of the person
identified in the information;
(6) to governmental entities that provide first
responders who may respond to a situation involving a potential
communicable disease of concern and need the information to
properly respond to the situation; or
(7) to a local health department or health authority
for a designated monitoring period based on the potential risk for
developing symptoms of a communicable disease of concern.
(c-1) A local health department or health authority shall
provide to first responders the physical address of a person who is
being monitored by the local department or authority for a
communicable disease for the duration of the disease's incubation
period. The local health department, health authority, or other
governmental entity, as applicable, shall remove the person's
physical address from any computer-aided dispatch system after the
monitoring period expires.
(c-2) Only the minimum necessary information may be
released under Subsections (c)(6) and (7) and (c-1), as determined
by a health authority, local health department, governmental
entity, or department.
(f) Reports, records, and information relating to cases or
suspected cases of diseases or health conditions may be released to
the extent necessary during a public health disaster, including an
outbreak of a communicable disease, to law enforcement personnel
and first responders solely for the purpose of protecting the
health or life of a first responder or the person identified in the
report, record, or information. Only the minimum necessary
information may be released under this subsection, as determined by
the health authority, the local health department, or the
department.
(g) For purposes of this section, "first responder" has the
meaning assigned by Section 421.095, Government Code.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
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