89R2543 LRM-F
By: Hall S.B. No. 121
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the right to choose medical treatments and certain
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 MEDICAL TREATMENTS 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].
Notwithstanding this subsection, an [However, the] individual may
be isolated or quarantined from the public [in an appropriate
facility] and must [shall] obey the department's or a health
authority's rules, orders, and instructions [of the department or
health authority] while in isolation or quarantine.
(c) Notwithstanding other law, an individual, or the
parent, legal guardian, or managing conservator of an individual
who is a minor, retains the right to:
(1) choose and make decisions regarding the medical
treatment provided to the individual; and
(2) choose to implement an alternate control measure
authorized under this chapter, unless the control measure imposed
is for isolation or quarantine.
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 TO IMPLEMENT ISOLATION OR
QUARANTINE CONTROL MEASURES 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; and
(2) provide to the individual or group of individuals
an opportunity to demonstrate that implementing the control
measures is unnecessary.
(b) The department or a health authority may not order an
individual or a group of individuals to implement control measures
described by Subsection (a) for a period that exceeds five days
unless the department or health authority obtains from a district
court of the 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 the
control measures.
(c) In ordering an individual or group of individuals to
implement control measures described by Subsection (a), the
department or a health authority to the greatest extent possible
must:
(1) use the least restrictive means available;
(2) allow an individual to isolate or quarantine with
other individuals subject to the same court order described by this
section;
(3) if the individual subject to the control measure
is a minor, allow the individual to isolate or quarantine with the
individual's parent, legal guardian, or managing conservator; and
(4) allow an individual to isolate or quarantine in
the individual's home or with another family member or a friend.
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 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, 2025.