By: Clardy, Middleton, Klick, et al. H.B. No. 684
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the development of a seizure action plan for certain
students enrolled in public schools and training for certain school
personnel regarding seizure disorders.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as Sam's Law.
SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 38, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 38.032 to read as follows:
Sec. 38.032. SEIZURE ACTION PLAN. (a) Each school district
and open-enrollment charter school shall require any school
employee who may have responsibility for the supervision or care of
a student with epilepsy or a seizure disorder to complete a seizure
training program described by Subsection (b). A school employee
who has completed the seizure training program may administer to a
student covered by a seizure action plan developed under Subsection
(d) a seizure rescue medication or medication prescribed to treat
seizure disorder symptoms, or may assist the student with
self-administration of the medication, as provided under the plan.
(b) A school employee described under Subsection (a) must
complete an agency-approved seizure training program that includes
instruction regarding managing students with seizures and includes
information about seizure recognition, related first aid, and the
administration of seizure rescue medications and medications
prescribed to treat seizure disorder symptoms. The agency may
approve, for purposes of this subsection, a seizure training course
for school personnel provided by a nonprofit national foundation
that supports the welfare of individuals with epilepsy and seizure
disorders, such as the Epilepsy Foundation of America. A seizure
training program approved by the agency under this subsection that
is provided to a school district or open-enrollment charter school
on portable media must be provided by the nonprofit entity free of
charge.
(c) A parent of or a person standing in parental relation to
a student with epilepsy or a seizure disorder for whom a plan has
been created under Section 504, Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29
U.S.C. Section 794), may provide to the school district or
open-enrollment charter school at which the student is enrolled
written authorization for the development of a seizure action plan
under Subsection (d). The written authorization must be provided
on a form adopted by the agency and contain the following
information:
(1) the student's name;
(2) the name and purpose of the medication to be
administered or self-administered, which must be a seizure rescue
medication or medication for the treatment of seizure disorder
symptoms approved for that purpose by the United States Food and
Drug Administration and prescribed by the student's physician;
(3) the prescribed dosage, route of administration,
and frequency with which the medication may be administered under
the prescription; and
(4) the circumstances under which the medication may
be administered.
(d) A school district or open-enrollment charter school
that receives written authorization under Subsection (c) shall
develop, in collaboration with the person providing the
authorization, a seizure action plan that is consistent with the
student's plan created under Section 504, Rehabilitation Act of
1973 (29 U.S.C. Section 794). The seizure action plan may provide
for a school employee who has completed the training program
described by Subsection (b) to administer or assist the student
with self-administration of a medication identified in the written
authorization provided under Subsection (c). A seizure action plan
developed for a student under this subsection must be renewed at the
beginning of each school year.
(e) The school district or open-enrollment charter school
must:
(1) keep a seizure action plan developed for a student
enrolled in the district or school on file in the office of a school
nurse or school administrator; and
(2) distribute a copy of the plan to each school
employee described by Subsection (a).
(f) A parent of or person standing in parental relation to a
student for whom a seizure action plan is developed under
Subsection (d) must provide a medication identified in the written
authorization described by Subsection (c) to the school district or
open-enrollment charter school at which the student is enrolled in
an unopened, sealed package that is clearly labeled by the
dispensing pharmacy.
(g) The immunity from liability provided by Section 22.0511
applies to an action or failure to act by a school employee in
administering a medication, assisting with self-administration, or
otherwise providing for the care of a student under the seizure
action plan developed for the student under Subsection (d).
(h) The agency shall adopt rules as necessary to administer
this section before the beginning of the school year immediately
following the effective date of this Act
.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies
beginning with the 2020-2021 school year.
SECTION 4. 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.