S.B. No. 1128
AN ACT
relating to certain diagnostic testing during pregnancy.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 81.090, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subsections (a-1), (c), (c-1), and (c-2) and
adding Subsection (p) to read as follows:
(a-1) A physician or other person permitted by law to attend
a pregnant woman during gestation or at delivery of an infant shall:
(1) take or cause to be taken a sample of the woman's
blood or other appropriate specimen at an examination in the third
trimester of the pregnancy, but not earlier than the 28th week of
the pregnancy;
(2) submit the sample to an appropriately certified
laboratory for a diagnostic test approved by the United States Food
and Drug Administration for syphilis and HIV infection; and
(3) retain a report of each case for nine months and
deliver the report to any successor in the case.
(c) A physician or other person in attendance at a delivery
shall:
(1) take or cause to be taken a sample of blood or
other appropriate specimen from the mother on admission for
delivery; and
(2) submit the sample to an appropriately certified
laboratory for diagnostic testing approved by the United States
Food and Drug Administration for[:
[(A) syphilis; and
[(B)] hepatitis B infection.
(c-1) If the physician or other person in attendance at the
delivery does not find in the woman's medical records results from
the diagnostic test for syphilis and HIV infection performed under
Subsection (a-1), the physician or person shall:
(1) take or cause to be taken a sample of blood or
other appropriate specimen from the mother;
(2) submit the sample to an appropriately certified
laboratory for diagnostic testing approved by the United States
Food and Drug Administration for syphilis and HIV infection; and
(3) instruct the laboratory to expedite the processing
of the HIV test so that the results are received less than six hours
after the time the sample is submitted.
(c-2) If the physician or other person responsible for the
newborn child [in attendance at the delivery] does not find in the
woman's medical records results from a diagnostic test for syphilis
and HIV infection performed under Subsection (a-1), and the
diagnostic test for syphilis and HIV infection was not performed
before delivery under Subsection (c-1), the physician or other
person responsible for the newborn child [in attendance at
delivery] shall:
(1) take or cause to be taken a sample of blood or
other appropriate specimen from the newborn child less than two
hours after the time of birth;
(2) submit the sample to an appropriately certified
laboratory for a diagnostic test approved by the United States Food
and Drug Administration for syphilis and HIV infection; and
(3) instruct the laboratory to expedite the processing
of the HIV test so that the results are received less than six hours
after the time the sample is submitted.
(p) Not later than January 1 of each odd-numbered year, the
department shall report to the legislature the number of cases of
early congenital syphilis and of late congenital syphilis that were
diagnosed in this state in the preceding biennium.
SECTION 2. Sections 81.090(a-1), (c), (c-1), and (c-2),
Health and Safety Code, as amended by this Act, apply only to
submission of a sample for diagnostic testing on or after the
effective date of this Act. The submission of a sample for
diagnostic testing before the effective date of this Act is covered
by the law in effect immediately before the effective date of this
Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1128 passed the Senate on
April 22, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 29, Nays 1; and that
the Senate concurred in House amendment on May 18, 2015, by the
following vote: Yeas 29, Nays 1.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1128 passed the House, with
amendment, on May 12, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 143,
Nays 4, two present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor