Texas 2023 - 88th Regular

Texas Senate Bill SB306 Compare Versions

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1	1	88R3411 JG-F
2	2	By: Hall S.B. No. 306
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to the right to choose medical treatments and certain
8	8	control measures and to the imposition of isolation or quarantine
9	9	control measures.
10	10	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
11	11	SECTION 1. The heading to Section 81.009, Health and Safety
12	12	Code, is amended to read as follows:
13	13	Sec. 81.009. EXEMPTION FROM MEDICAL TREATMENT; RIGHT TO
14	14	CHOOSE MEDICAL TREATMENTS AND CONTROL MEASURES.
15	15	SECTION 2. Section 81.009, Health and Safety Code, is
16	16	amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to
17	17	read as follows:
18	18	(a) This chapter does not authorize or require the medical
19	19	treatment of an individual who chooses treatment by prayer or
20	20	spiritual means [as part of the tenets and practices of a recognized
21	21	church of which the individual is an adherent or member].
22	22	Notwithstanding this subsection, an [However, the] individual may
23	23	be isolated or quarantined from the public [in an appropriate
24	24	facility] and must [shall] obey the department's or a health
25	25	authority's rules, orders, and instructions [of the department or
26	26	health authority] while in isolation or quarantine.
27	27	(c) Notwithstanding other law, an individual, or the
28	28	parent, legal guardian, or managing conservator of an individual
29	29	who is a minor, retains the right to:
30	30	(1) choose and make decisions regarding the medical
31	31	treatment provided to the individual; and
32	32	(2) choose to implement an alternate control measure
33	33	authorized under this chapter, unless the control measure imposed
34	34	is for isolation or quarantine.
35	35	SECTION 3. Subchapter E, Chapter 81, Health and Safety
36	36	Code, is amended by adding Section 81.0825 to read as follows:
37	37	Sec. 81.0825. REQUIREMENTS TO IMPLEMENT ISOLATION OR
38	38	QUARANTINE CONTROL MEASURES FOR INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP. (a) Before
39	39	ordering an individual or a group of individuals to implement
40	40	control measures under Section 81.083 or 81.085 that involve
41	41	isolation or quarantine, the department or a health authority must:
42	42	(1) provide notice of the control measures to the
43	43	individual or group of individuals; and
44	44	(2) provide to the individual or group of individuals
45	45	an opportunity to demonstrate that implementing the control
46	46	measures is unnecessary.
47	47	(b) The department or a health authority may not order an
48	48	individual or a group of individuals to implement control measures
49	49	described by Subsection (a) for a period that exceeds five days
50	50	unless the department or health authority obtains from a district
51	51	court of the county in which the individual or group of individuals
52	52	resides, is located, or is receiving court-ordered health services
53	53	a court order authorizing the department or health authority to
54	54	order the individual or group of individuals to implement the
55	55	control measures.
56	56	(c) In ordering an individual or group of individuals to
57	57	implement control measures described by Subsection (a), the
58	58	department or a health authority to the greatest extent possible
59	59	must:
60	60	(1) use the least restrictive means available;
61	61	(2) allow an individual to isolate or quarantine with
62	62	other individuals subject to the same court order described by this
63	63	section;
64	64	(3) if the individual subject to the control measure
65	65	is a minor, allow the individual to isolate or quarantine with the
66	66	individual's parent, legal guardian, or managing conservator; and
67	67	(4) allow an individual to isolate or quarantine in
68	68	the individual's home or with another family member or a friend.
69	69	SECTION 4. Sections 81.083(b) and (k), Health and Safety
70	70	Code, are amended to read as follows:
71	71	(b) If the department or a health authority has reasonable
72	72	cause to believe that an individual is ill with, has been exposed
73	73	to, or is the carrier of a communicable disease, the department or
74	74	health authority may, subject to Section 81.0825, order the
75	75	individual, or the individual's parent, legal guardian, or managing
76	76	conservator if the individual is a minor, to implement control
77	77	measures that are reasonable and necessary to prevent the
78	78	introduction, transmission, and spread of the disease in this
79	79	state.
80	80	(k) If the department or a health authority has reasonable
81	81	cause to believe that a group of five or more individuals has been
82	82	exposed to or infected with a communicable disease, the department
83	83	or health authority may, subject to Section 81.0825, order the
84	84	members of the group to implement control measures that are
85	85	reasonable and necessary to prevent the introduction,
86	86	transmission, and spread of the disease in this state. If the
87	87	department or health authority adopts control measures under this
88	88	subsection, each member of the group is subject to the requirements
89	89	of this section.
90	90	SECTION 5. Sections 81.085(a) and (c), Health and Safety
91	91	Code, are amended to read as follows:
92	92	(a) If an outbreak of communicable disease occurs in this
93	93	state, the commissioner or one or more health authorities may,
94	94	subject to Section 81.0825, impose an area quarantine coextensive
95	95	with the area affected. The commissioner may impose an area
96	96	quarantine, if the commissioner has reasonable cause to believe
97	97	that individuals or property in the area may be infected or
98	98	contaminated with a communicable disease, for the period necessary
99	99	to determine whether an outbreak of communicable disease has
100	100	occurred. A health authority may impose the quarantine only within
101	101	the boundaries of the health authority's jurisdiction.
102	102	(c) The department may, subject to Section 81.0825, impose
103	103	additional disease control measures in a quarantine area that the
104	104	department considers necessary and most appropriate to arrest,
105	105	control, and eradicate the threat to the public health. Absent
106	106	preemptive action by the department under this chapter or by the
107	107	governor under Chapter 418, Government Code (Texas Disaster Act of
108	108	1975), a health authority may impose in a quarantine area under the
109	109	authority's jurisdiction additional disease control measures that
110	110	the health authority considers necessary and most appropriate to
111	111	arrest, control, and eradicate the threat to the public health.
112	112	SECTION 6. Section 81.009(b), Health and Safety Code, is
113	113	repealed.
114	114	SECTION 7. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
115	115	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
116	116	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
117	117	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
118	118	Act takes effect September 1, 2023.