Bill Text: TX HB1306 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Relating to certain claims for benefits or compensation by a death investigation professional.

Sponsorship: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 3-1)

Status: (Passed) 2025-06-20 - Effective on 9/1/25 [HB1306 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-HB1306-Enrolled.html

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H.B. No. 1306

AN ACT
relating to certain claims for benefits or compensation by a death
investigation professional.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 607.001, 607.002, and 607.003,
Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
Sec. 607.001. DEFINITIONS [DEFINITION]. (a) In this
chapter, "public safety employee" means a peace officer, fire
fighter, detention officer, county jailer, or emergency medical
services employee of this state or a political subdivision of this
state.
(b) In this subchapter:
(1) "Death investigation professional" means:
(A) a justice of the peace;
(B) a death investigator employed under Article
49.23, Code of Criminal Procedure; or
(C) a medical examiner or an employee of the
medical examiner's office employed under Section 3, Article 49.25,
Code of Criminal Procedure.
(2) "Inquest" has the meaning assigned by Article
49.01, Code of Criminal Procedure.
Sec. 607.002. REIMBURSEMENT. (a) A public safety employee
or death investigation professional who is exposed to a contagious
disease is entitled to reimbursement [from the employing
governmental entity] for reasonable medical expenses incurred in
treatment for the prevention of the disease if:
(1) the disease is not an "ordinary disease of life" as
that term is used in the context of a workers' compensation claim;
(2) the exposure to the disease occurs:
(A) during the course of the employment for a
public safety employee; or
(B) while conducting or assisting in an inquest
for a death investigation professional; and
(3) the employee or professional requires
preventative medical treatment because of exposure to the disease.
(b) The governmental entity that employs the public safety
employee is responsible for reimbursing the employee for medical
expenses described by Subsection (a).
(c) The county served by the death investigation
professional is responsible for reimbursing the professional for
medical expenses described by Subsection (a).
Sec. 607.003. PHYSICIAN OF CHOICE. A public safety
employee or death investigation professional who is exposed to a
disease described by Section 607.002 is entitled to be treated for
the prevention of that disease by the physician of the employee's or
professional's choice.
SECTION 2. Section 607.004, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (a-1) to read as follows:
(a-1) A death investigation professional is entitled to
preventative immunization for any disease to which the death
investigation professional may be exposed in conducting or
assisting in an inquest and for which immunization is possible.
SECTION 3. Section 615.003, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 615.003. APPLICABILITY. This chapter applies only to
eligible survivors of the following individuals:
(1) an individual:
(A) elected, appointed, or employed as a peace
officer by the state or a political subdivision of the state under
Article 2A.001, Code of Criminal Procedure, or other law; or
(B) employed as a peace officer by a private
institution of higher education, including a private junior
college, that is located in this state under Section 51.212,
Education Code;
(2) a paid probation officer appointed by the director
of a community supervision and corrections department who has the
duties set out in Section 76.002 and the qualifications set out in
Section 76.005, or who was appointed in accordance with prior law;
(3) a parole officer employed by the Texas Department
of Criminal Justice who has the duties set out in Section 508.001
and the qualifications set out in Section 508.113 or in prior law;
(4) a paid jailer;
(5) a member of an organized police reserve or
auxiliary unit who regularly assists peace officers in enforcing
criminal laws;
(6) a member of the class of employees of the
correctional institutions division formally designated as
custodial personnel under Section 615.006 by the Texas Board of
Criminal Justice or its predecessor in function;
(7) a jailer or guard of a county jail who is appointed
by the sheriff and who:
(A) performs a security, custodial, or
supervisory function over the admittance, confinement, or
discharge of prisoners; and
(B) is certified by the Texas Commission on Law
Enforcement;
(8) a juvenile correctional employee of the Texas
Juvenile Justice Department;
(9) an employee of the Health and Human Services
Commission [Department of Aging and Disability Services] or
Department of State Health Services who:
(A) works at the department's maximum security
unit; or
(B) performs on-site services for the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice;
(10) an individual who is employed by the state or a
political or legal subdivision and is subject to certification by
the Texas Commission on Fire Protection;
(11) an individual employed by the state or a
political or legal subdivision whose principal duties are aircraft
crash and rescue fire fighting;
(12) a member of an organized volunteer fire-fighting
unit that:
(A) renders fire-fighting services without
remuneration; and
(B) conducts a minimum of two drills each month,
each two hours long;
(13) an individual who:
(A) performs emergency medical services or
operates an ambulance;
(B) is employed by a political subdivision of the
state or is an emergency medical services volunteer as defined by
Section 773.003, Health and Safety Code; and
(C) is qualified as an emergency care attendant
or at a higher level of training under Section 773.046, 773.047,
773.048, 773.049, or 773.0495, Health and Safety Code;
(14) an individual who is employed or formally
designated as a chaplain for:
(A) an organized volunteer fire-fighting unit or
other fire department of this state or of a political subdivision of
this state;
(B) a law enforcement agency of this state or of a
political subdivision of this state; or
(C) the Texas Department of Criminal Justice;
(15) an individual who is employed by the state or a
political subdivision of the state and who is considered by the
governmental employer to be a trainee for a position otherwise
described by this section;
(16) an individual who is employed by the Department
of Public Safety and, as certified by the director, is:
(A) deployed into the field in direct support of
a law enforcement operation, including patrol, investigative,
search and rescue, crime scene, on-site communications, or special
operations; and
(B) given a special assignment in direct support
of operations relating to organized crime, criminal interdiction,
border security, counterterrorism, intelligence, traffic
enforcement, emergency management, regulatory services, or special
investigations; [or]
(17) an individual who is employed by the Parks and
Wildlife Department and, as certified by the executive director of
the Parks and Wildlife Department, is:
(A) deployed into the field in direct support of
a law enforcement operation, including patrol, investigative,
search and rescue, crime scene, on-site communications, or special
operations; and
(B) given a special assignment in direct support
of operations relating to organized crime, criminal interdiction,
border security, counterterrorism, intelligence, traffic
enforcement, emergency management, regulatory services, or special
investigations;
(18) a justice of the peace;
(19) a death investigator employed under Article
49.23, Code of Criminal Procedure; or
(20) a medical examiner or an employee of the medical
examiner's office employed under Section 3, Article 49.25, Code of
Criminal Procedure.
SECTION 4. Subchapter C, Chapter 504, Labor Code, is
amended by adding Section 504.057 to read as follows:
Sec. 504.057. EXPEDITED PROVISION OF MEDICAL BENEFITS FOR
CERTAIN INJURIES SUSTAINED BY CERTAIN DEATH INVESTIGATION
PROFESSIONALS IN COURSE AND SCOPE OF EMPLOYMENT. (a) In this
section, "death investigation professional" means:
(1) a justice of the peace;
(2) a death investigator employed under Article 49.23,
Code of Criminal Procedure; or
(3) a medical examiner or an employee of the medical
examiner's office employed under Section 3, Article 49.25, Code of
Criminal Procedure.
(b) This section applies only to a death investigation
professional who sustains a serious bodily injury, as defined by
Section 1.07, Penal Code, in the course and scope of employment.
(c) The county, division, and insurance carrier shall
accelerate and give priority to an injured death investigation
professional's claim for medical benefits, including all health
care required to cure or relieve the effects naturally resulting
from a compensable injury described by Subsection (b).
(d) The division shall accelerate, under rules adopted by
the commissioner of workers' compensation, a contested case hearing
requested by or an appeal submitted by a death investigation
professional regarding the denial of a claim for medical benefits,
including all health care required to cure or relieve the effects
naturally resulting from a compensable injury described by
Subsection (b). The death investigation professional shall provide
notice to the division and independent review organization that the
contested case or appeal involves a death investigation
professional.
(e) Except as otherwise provided by this section, a death
investigation professional is entitled to review of a medical
dispute in the manner provided by Section 504.054.
SECTION 5. Section 415.021(c-2), Labor Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(c-2) In determining whether to assess an administrative
penalty involving a claim in which the insurance carrier provided
notice under Section 409.021(a-3), the commissioner shall consider
whether:
(1) the employee cooperated with the insurance
carrier's investigation of the claim;
(2) the employee timely authorized access to the
applicable medical records before the insurance carrier's deadline
to:
(A) begin payment of benefits; or
(B) notify the division and the employee of the
insurance carrier's refusal to pay benefits; and
(3) the insurance carrier conducted an investigation
of the claim, applied the statutory presumptions under Subchapter
B, Chapter 607, Government Code, and expedited medical benefits
under Section 504.055 or 504.057.
SECTION 6. The changes in law made by this Act apply to a
claim for benefits or compensation pending on or filed on or after
the effective date of this Act. A claim for benefits or
compensation filed before that date, other than a claim pending on
that date, is governed by the law in effect on the date the claim was
made, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1306 was passed by the House on May
10, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 130, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1306 was passed by the Senate on May
28, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor