87R8402 JG-F
By: White H.B. No. 2760
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the right to choose and refuse medical treatment and
control measures and to the imposition of isolation or quarantine
control measures.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Section 81.009, Health and Safety
Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 81.009. EXEMPTION FROM MEDICAL TREATMENT; RIGHT TO
CHOOSE OR REFUSE MEDICAL TREATMENT AND CONTROL MEASURES.
SECTION 2. Section 81.009, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to
read as follows:
(a) This chapter does not authorize or require the medical
treatment of an individual who chooses treatment by prayer or
spiritual means [as part of the tenets and practices of a recognized
church of which the individual is an adherent or member]. However,
the individual may be isolated or quarantined from the public [in an
appropriate facility] and shall obey the rules, orders, and
instructions of the department or health authority while in
isolation or quarantine.
(c) Notwithstanding other law, an individual retains the
right to choose and make decisions regarding the medical treatment
provided to the individual or the individual's child and the right
to refuse:
(1) a medical treatment or procedure;
(2) a medical test;
(3) a physical or mental examination;
(4) an immunization;
(5) an experimental procedure or protocol;
(6) the collection of a specimen;
(7) participation in a tracking or tracing program;
(8) participation in wearing a medical or other
protective device;
(9) participation in maintaining a measured distance
from other individuals or animals, unless the distance is required
by law or under a court order unrelated to this chapter; and
(10) involuntary disclosure of personal data or
medical information.
SECTION 3. Subchapter E, Chapter 81, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 81.0825 to read as follows:
Sec. 81.0825. REQUIREMENTS FOR IMPOSITION OF CONTROL
MEASURES INVOLVING ISOLATION OR QUARANTINE FOR INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP.
(a) Before ordering an individual or a group of individuals to
implement control measures under Section 81.083 or 81.085 that
involve isolation or quarantine, the department or a health
authority must:
(1) provide notice of the control measures to the
individual or group of individuals;
(2) provide to the individual or group of individuals
an opportunity to demonstrate that the implementation of control
measures is not necessary; and
(3) obtain from a district court in a county in which
the individual or group of individuals resides, is located, or is
receiving court-ordered health services a court order authorizing
the department or health authority to order the individual or group
of individuals to implement control measures.
(b) To obtain a court order under Subsection (a)(3), the
department or health authority must demonstrate to the court by
clear and convincing evidence that the individual or group of
individuals is infected with or is reasonably suspected of being
infected with a communicable disease that presents a threat to
public health. The department or health authority must submit to
the court any evidence the individual or group provides to the
department or health authority under Subsection (a)(2).
(c) In ordering an individual or group of individuals to
implement control measures under Section 81.083 or 81.085 that
involve isolation or quarantine, the department or a health
authority to the greatest extent possible must:
(1) use the least restrictive means available; and
(2) allow an individual to isolate or quarantine in
the individual's home or with a family member, a friend, or another
individual with whom the individual is involved in a romantic
relationship.
SECTION 4. Sections 81.083(b) and (k), Health and Safety
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(b) If the department or a health authority has reasonable
cause to believe that an individual is ill with, has been exposed
to, or is the carrier of a communicable disease, the department or
health authority may, subject to Section 81.0825, order the
individual, or the individual's parent, legal guardian, or managing
conservator if the individual is a minor, to implement control
measures that are reasonable and necessary to prevent the
introduction, transmission, and spread of the disease in this
state.
(k) If the department or a health authority has reasonable
cause to believe that a group of five or more individuals has been
exposed to or infected with a communicable disease, the department
or health authority may, subject to Section 81.0825, order the
members of the group to implement control measures that are
reasonable and necessary to prevent the introduction,
transmission, and spread of the disease in this state. If the
department or health authority adopts control measures under this
subsection, each member of the group is subject to the requirements
of this section.
SECTION 5. Sections 81.085(a) and (c), Health and Safety
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) If an outbreak of communicable disease occurs in this
state, the commissioner or one or more health authorities may,
subject to Section 81.0825, impose an area quarantine coextensive
with the area affected. The commissioner may impose an area
quarantine, if the commissioner has reasonable cause to believe
that individuals or property in the area may be infected or
contaminated with a communicable disease, for the period necessary
to determine whether an outbreak of communicable disease has
occurred. A health authority may impose the quarantine only within
the boundaries of the health authority's jurisdiction.
(c) The department may, subject to Section 81.0825, impose
additional disease control measures in a quarantine area that the
department considers necessary and most appropriate to arrest,
control, and eradicate the threat to the public health. Absent
preemptive action by the department under this chapter or by the
governor under Chapter 418, Government Code (Texas Disaster Act of
1975), a health authority may impose in a quarantine area under the
authority's jurisdiction additional disease control measures that
the health authority considers necessary and most appropriate to
arrest, control, and eradicate the threat to the public health.
SECTION 6. Section 81.009(b), Health and Safety Code, is
repealed.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.