H.B. No. 496
AN ACT
relating to traumatic injury response protocol and the use of
bleeding control stations in public schools.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 38, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 38.030 to read as follows:
Sec. 38.030. TRAUMATIC INJURY RESPONSE PROTOCOL. (a) Each
school district and open-enrollment charter school shall develop
and annually make available a protocol for school employees and
volunteers to follow in the event of a traumatic injury.
(b) The protocol required under this section must:
(1) provide for a school district or open-enrollment
charter school to maintain and make available to school employees
and volunteers bleeding control stations, as described by
Subsection (d), for use in the event of a traumatic injury involving
blood loss;
(2) ensure that bleeding control stations 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;
(3) require 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) require the district or charter school to annually
offer 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) to
students enrolled at the campus in grade seven or higher.
(c) 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.
(d) A bleeding control station required under this section
must contain all of the following required supplies in quantities
determined appropriate by the superintendent of the district or the
director of the school:
(1) tourniquets approved for use in battlefield trauma
care by the armed forces of the United States;
(2) chest seals;
(3) compression bandages;
(4) bleeding control bandages;
(5) space emergency blankets;
(6) latex-free gloves;
(7) markers;
(8) scissors; and
(9) instructional documents developed by the American
College of Surgeons or the United States Department of Homeland
Security detailing methods to prevent blood loss following a
traumatic event.
(e) In addition to the items listed under Subsection (d), 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.
(f) 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.
(g) The course of instruction for training described under
Subsection (f) 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.
(h) The course of instruction described under Subsection
(f) may be provided by emergency medical technicians, paramedics,
law enforcement officers, firefighters, representatives of the
organization or institution that developed or endorsed the
training, educators, other public school employees, or other
similarly qualified individuals. A course of instruction described
under Subsection (f) 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.
(i) The good faith use of a bleeding control station by a
school district or open-enrollment charter school employee to
control the bleeding of an injured person is incident to or within
the scope of the duties of the employee's position of employment and
involves the exercise of judgment or discretion on the part of the
employee for purposes of Section 22.0511, and a school district or
open-enrollment charter school and the employees of the district or
school are immune from civil liability, as provided by that
section, from damages or injuries resulting from that good faith
use of a bleeding control station. A school district or
open-enrollment charter school volunteer is immune from civil
liability from damages or injuries resulting from the good faith
use of a bleeding control station to the same extent as a
professional employee of the district or school, as provided by
Section 22.053.
(j) Nothing in this section limits the immunity from
liability of a school district, open-enrollment charter school, or
district or school employee or volunteer under:
(1) Sections 22.0511 and 22.053;
(2) Section 101.051, Civil Practice and Remedies Code;
or
(3) any other applicable law.
(k) This section does not create a cause of action against a
school district or open-enrollment charter school or the employees
or volunteers of the district or school.
SECTION 2. (a) Not later than October 1, 2019, the Texas
Education Agency shall approve a course of instruction on the use of
a bleeding control station that is appropriate to satisfy the
requirement under Section 38.030, 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
traumatic injury response protocol required by Section 38.030,
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.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 496 was passed by the House on May 10,
2019, by the following vote: Yeas 91, Nays 34, 2 present, not
voting; that the House refused to concur in Senate amendments to
H.B. No. 496 on May 23, 2019, and requested the appointment of a
conference committee to consider the differences between the two
houses; and that the House adopted the conference committee report
on H.B. No. 496 on May 26, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 124,
Nays 21, 1 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 496 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 21, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 23, Nays
8; at the request of the House, the Senate appointed a conference
committee to consider the differences between the two houses; and
that the Senate adopted the conference committee report on H.B. No.
496 on May 26, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 25, Nays 6.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor