By: Wilson (Senate Sponsor - Zaffirini) H.B. No. 3884
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 6, 2019;
May 10, 2019, read first time and referred to Committee on
Education; May 17, 2019, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 11, Nays 0; May 17, 2019, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to dissemination of bacterial meningitis information by
school districts.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 38.0025(a) and (c), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) The Department of State Health Services [agency] shall
prescribe procedures by which each school district shall provide
information relating to bacterial meningitis to its students and
their parents each school year. The procedures must ensure that the
information is reasonably likely to come to the attention of the
parents of each student. The department [agency] shall prescribe
the form and content of the information. The information must
cover:
(1) the symptoms of the disease, how it may be
diagnosed, and its possible consequences if untreated;
(2) how the disease is transmitted, how it may be
prevented, and the relative risk of contracting the disease for
primary and secondary school students;
(3) the availability and effectiveness of vaccination
against and treatment for the disease, and a brief description of
the risks and possible side effects of vaccination; and
(4) sources of additional information regarding the
disease, including any appropriate office of the school district
and the appropriate office of the department [Texas Department of
Health].
(c) A school district, with the written consent of the
Department of State Health Services [agency], may provide the
information required by this section to its students and their
parents by a method different from the method prescribed by the
department [agency] under Subsection (a) if the department [agency]
determines that method would be effective in bringing the
information to the attention of the parents of each student.
SECTION 2. Section 38.0025(b), Education Code, is repealed.
SECTION 3. This Act applies beginning with the 2019-2020
school year.
SECTION 4. As soon as practicable after the effective date
of this Act, the Department of State Health Services shall develop
the procedures under Section 38.0025, Education Code, as amended by
this Act.
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, 2019.
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