Texas 2025 - 89th Regular

Texas Senate Bill SB121 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	89R2543 LRM-F
2	2	By: Hall S.B. No. 121
3	3
4	4
5	5
6	6
7	7	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
8	8	AN ACT
9	9	relating to the right to choose medical treatments and certain
10	10	control measures and to the imposition of isolation or quarantine
11	11	control measures.
12	12	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
13	13	SECTION 1. The heading to Section 81.009, Health and Safety
14	14	Code, is amended to read as follows:
15	15	Sec. 81.009. EXEMPTION FROM MEDICAL TREATMENT; RIGHT TO
16	16	CHOOSE MEDICAL TREATMENTS AND CONTROL MEASURES.
17	17	SECTION 2. Section 81.009, Health and Safety Code, is
18	18	amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to
19	19	read as follows:
20	20	(a) This chapter does not authorize or require the medical
21	21	treatment of an individual who chooses treatment by prayer or
22	22	spiritual means [as part of the tenets and practices of a recognized
23	23	church of which the individual is an adherent or member].
24	24	Notwithstanding this subsection, an [However, the] individual may
25	25	be isolated or quarantined from the public [in an appropriate
26	26	facility] and must [shall] obey the department's or a health
27	27	authority's rules, orders, and instructions [of the department or
28	28	health authority] while in isolation or quarantine.
29	29	(c) Notwithstanding other law, an individual, or the
30	30	parent, legal guardian, or managing conservator of an individual
31	31	who is a minor, retains the right to:
32	32	(1) choose and make decisions regarding the medical
33	33	treatment provided to the individual; and
34	34	(2) choose to implement an alternate control measure
35	35	authorized under this chapter, unless the control measure imposed
36	36	is for isolation or quarantine.
37	37	SECTION 3. Subchapter E, Chapter 81, Health and Safety
38	38	Code, is amended by adding Section 81.0825 to read as follows:
39	39	Sec. 81.0825. REQUIREMENTS TO IMPLEMENT ISOLATION OR
40	40	QUARANTINE CONTROL MEASURES FOR INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP. (a) Before
41	41	ordering an individual or a group of individuals to implement
42	42	control measures under Section 81.083 or 81.085 that involve
43	43	isolation or quarantine, the department or a health authority must:
44	44	(1) provide notice of the control measures to the
45	45	individual or group of individuals; and
46	46	(2) provide to the individual or group of individuals
47	47	an opportunity to demonstrate that implementing the control
48	48	measures is unnecessary.
49	49	(b) The department or a health authority may not order an
50	50	individual or a group of individuals to implement control measures
51	51	described by Subsection (a) for a period that exceeds five days
52	52	unless the department or health authority obtains from a district
53	53	court of the county in which the individual or group of individuals
54	54	resides, is located, or is receiving court-ordered health services
55	55	a court order authorizing the department or health authority to
56	56	order the individual or group of individuals to implement the
57	57	control measures.
58	58	(c) In ordering an individual or group of individuals to
59	59	implement control measures described by Subsection (a), the
60	60	department or a health authority to the greatest extent possible
61	61	must:
62	62	(1) use the least restrictive means available;
63	63	(2) allow an individual to isolate or quarantine with
64	64	other individuals subject to the same court order described by this
65	65	section;
66	66	(3) if the individual subject to the control measure
67	67	is a minor, allow the individual to isolate or quarantine with the
68	68	individual's parent, legal guardian, or managing conservator; and
69	69	(4) allow an individual to isolate or quarantine in
70	70	the individual's home or with another family member or a friend.
71	71	SECTION 4. Sections 81.083(b) and (k), Health and Safety
72	72	Code, are amended to read as follows:
73	73	(b) If the department or a health authority has reasonable
74	74	cause to believe that an individual is ill with, has been exposed
75	75	to, or is the carrier of a communicable disease, the department or
76	76	health authority may, subject to Section 81.0825, order the
77	77	individual, or the individual's parent, legal guardian, or managing
78	78	conservator if the individual is a minor, to implement control
79	79	measures that are reasonable and necessary to prevent the
80	80	introduction, transmission, and spread of the disease in this
81	81	state.
82	82	(k) If the department or a health authority has reasonable
83	83	cause to believe that a group of five or more individuals has been
84	84	exposed to or infected with a communicable disease, the department
85	85	or health authority may, subject to Section 81.0825, order the
86	86	members of the group to implement control measures that are
87	87	reasonable and necessary to prevent the introduction,
88	88	transmission, and spread of the disease in this state. If the
89	89	department or health authority adopts control measures under this
90	90	subsection, each member of the group is subject to the requirements
91	91	of this section.
92	92	SECTION 5. Sections 81.085(a) and (c), Health and Safety
93	93	Code, are amended to read as follows:
94	94	(a) If an outbreak of communicable disease occurs in this
95	95	state, the commissioner or one or more health authorities may,
96	96	subject to Section 81.0825, impose an area quarantine coextensive
97	97	with the area affected. The commissioner may impose an area
98	98	quarantine, if the commissioner has reasonable cause to believe
99	99	that individuals or property in the area may be infected or
100	100	contaminated with a communicable disease, for the period necessary
101	101	to determine whether an outbreak of communicable disease has
102	102	occurred. A health authority may impose the quarantine only within
103	103	the boundaries of the health authority's jurisdiction.
104	104	(c) The department may, subject to Section 81.0825, impose
105	105	additional disease control measures in a quarantine area that the
106	106	department considers necessary and most appropriate to arrest,
107	107	control, and eradicate the threat to the public health. Absent
108	108	preemptive action by the department under this chapter or by the
109	109	governor under Chapter 418, Government Code (Texas Disaster Act of
110	110	1975), a health authority may impose in a quarantine area under the
111	111	authority's jurisdiction additional disease control measures that
112	112	the health authority considers necessary and most appropriate to
113	113	arrest, control, and eradicate the threat to the public health.
114	114	SECTION 6. Section 81.009(b), Health and Safety Code, is
115	115	repealed.
116	116	SECTION 7. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
117	117	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
118	118	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
119	119	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
120	120	Act takes effect September 1, 2025.