By: Gervin-Hawkins, Bernal, Allison H.B. No. 496
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the placement of bleeding control stations in public
schools and to required training of public school personnel and
students.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 38, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 38.029 to read as follows:
Sec. 38.029. BLEEDING CONTROL STATION PROGRAM. (a) In this
section, "emergency alerting device" means a device designed to
send, once a case containing the device is opened, an emergency
alert that provides continuous information about the location of
the device to preprogrammed recipients, including a 9-1-1 call
center, school resource officers, and emergency services
personnel, using multiple forms of communication technology to
ensure connectivity, including cellular telephone technology,
Bluetooth technology, global positioning technology, general
packet radio service technology, and wireless computer networking
technology.
(b) Each school district and open-enrollment charter school
shall develop and implement at each campus of the district or school
a bleeding control station program that:
(1) ensures that bleeding control stations, as
described by Subsection (e), are stored in easily accessible areas
of the campus that are selected by the district's school safety and
security committee or the charter school's governing body;
(2) includes the use of bleeding control stations in:
(A) any security planning measure or protocol
adopted by a district, including a district's multihazard emergency
operations plan under Section 37.108(a); or
(B) any security planning measure or protocol
adopted by a charter school's governing body;
(3) requires that agency-approved training on the use
of a bleeding control station in the event of an injury to another
person be provided to:
(A) each school district peace officer
commissioned under Section 37.081 or school security personnel
employed under that section who provides security services at the
campus;
(B) each school resource officer who provides law
enforcement at the campus; and
(C) all other district or school personnel who
may be reasonably expected to use a bleeding control station; and
(4) subject to Subsection (c), requires each student
enrolled in grade seven or higher at the campus to annually receive
instruction on the use of a bleeding control station from a school
resource officer or other appropriate district or school personnel
who has received the training under Subdivision (3).
(b-1) A district's school safety and security committee or
the charter school's governing body may select, as easily
accessible areas of the campus at which bleeding control stations
may be stored, areas of the campus where automated external
defibrillators are stored.
(c) A student is not required to receive the instruction
under Subsection (b)(4) if:
(1) the student has a disability that makes
participating in the instruction impractical; or
(2) the student's parent or guardian does not consent
to the student receiving the instruction.
(d) The commissioner shall adopt guidelines to ensure that:
(1) school districts and open-enrollment charter
schools provide notice to a parent of each child enrolled at a
district or school campus regarding the instruction required under
Subsection (b)(4); and
(2) parents are provided the opportunity to remove the
parent's child from the instruction.
(d-1) A bleeding control station required under this
section must contain a first aid bleeding control kit that includes
each of the items required under Subsection (e), in appropriate
quantities as provided by that subsection, based on one of three
options selected by the district or school. A district or school
may select:
(1) as option one, that each bleeding control station
located at the district or school include a first aid bleeding
control kit containing the appropriate quantity of required
supplies to treat eight injured persons;
(2) as option two, that each bleeding control station
of the district or school include a first aid bleeding control kit
containing the appropriate quantity of required supplies to treat
five injured persons; or
(3) as option three, that each bleeding control
station of the district or school include a first aid bleeding
control kit containing all required supplies in quantities
determined appropriate by the superintendent of the district or the
director of the school.
(e) A first aid bleeding control kit must include the
following supplies, in quantities applicable to the option selected
under Subsection (d-1), as follows:
(1) tourniquets that include a locking mechanism:
(A) eight, if option one is selected;
(B) five, if option two is selected; or
(C) the quantity determined appropriate by the
superintendent or director, if option three is selected;
(2) chest seals:
(A) eight, if option one is selected;
(B) five, if option two is selected; or
(C) the quantity determined appropriate by the
superintendent or director, if option three is selected;
(3) patient care cards:
(A) eight, if option one is selected;
(B) five, if option two is selected; or
(C) the quantity determined appropriate by the
superintendent or director, if option three is selected;
(4) pairs of latex-free gloves:
(A) five, if option one or option two is
selected; or
(B) the quantity determined appropriate by the
superintendent or director, if option three is selected;
(5) space emergency blankets:
(A) five, if option one or option two is
selected; or
(B) the quantity determined appropriate by the
superintendent or director, if option three is selected;
(6) hemostatic-impregnated gauze dressings:
(A) two, if option one or option two is selected;
or
(B) the quantity determined appropriate by the
superintendent or director, if option three is selected;
(7) permanent markers:
(A) two, if option one or option two is selected;
or
(B) the quantity determined appropriate by the
superintendent or director, if option three is selected;
(8) pairs of trauma shears:
(A) two, if option one or option two is selected;
or
(B) the quantity determined appropriate by the
superintendent or director, if option three is selected;
(9) compression bandages;
(A) two, if option one or option two is selected;
or
(B) the quantity determined appropriate by the
superintendent or director, if option three is selected;
(10) one hard-shell case, regardless of the option
selected; and
(11) one emergency alerting device, regardless of the
option selected.
(f) In addition to the items listed under Subsection (e), a
school district or open-enrollment charter school may also include
in a bleeding control station any medical material or equipment
that:
(1) may be readily stored in a bleeding control
station;
(2) may be used to adequately treat an injury
involving traumatic blood loss; and
(3) is approved by local law enforcement or emergency
medical services personnel.
(g) A school district or open-enrollment charter school
shall conduct an annual inspection of the medical material and
equipment in each bleeding control station stored on a campus of the
district or school and replace any expired material or equipment as
necessary.
(h) A school district or open-enrollment charter school
must restock a bleeding control station as soon as practicable
after a use of the station to ensure the station contains all
required material and equipment.
(i) To satisfy the training requirement of Subsection
(b)(3), the agency may approve a course of instruction that has been
developed or endorsed by:
(1) the American College of Surgeons or a similar
organization; or
(2) the emergency medicine department of a
health-related institution of higher education or a hospital.
(j) The course of instruction for training described under
Subsection (i) may not be provided as an online course. The course
of instruction must use nationally recognized, evidence-based
guidelines for bleeding control and must incorporate instruction on
the psychomotor skills necessary to use a bleeding control station
in the event of an injury to another person,
including instruction
on proper chest seal placement. The course of instruction may be
provided by an instructor who is properly qualified to provide the
instruction described under Subsection (i), which may include
emergency medical technicians, paramedics, law enforcement
officers, firefighters, representatives of the organization or
institution that developed or endorsed the training, educators, or
other public school employees. A course of instruction described
by Subsection (i) is not required to provide for certification in
bleeding control. If the course of instruction does provide for
certification in bleeding control, the instructor must be
authorized to provide the instruction for the purpose of
certification by the organization or institution that developed or
endorsed the course of instruction.
(k) A school district or open-enrollment charter school and
the employees of the district or school are immune from civil
liability from damages or injuries resulting from the good faith
use of a bleeding control station by an employee of the district or
school to control the bleeding of an injured person, provided that
the employee did not act with gross negligence in the use of the
bleeding control station.
SECTION 2. (a) Not later than October 1, 2019, the Texas
Education Agency shall approve training in the use of a bleeding
control station that is appropriate to satisfy the training
required by Section 38.029, Education Code, as added by this Act.
(b) As soon as practicable after the effective date of this
Act, and not later than January 1, 2020, each school district and
open-enrollment charter school shall develop and implement the
bleeding control station program required by Section 38.029,
Education Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 3. 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.