Bill Text: TX SB1025 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced


Bill Title: Relating to immunization requirements and documentation, including adverse event tracking following the administration of vaccines and booster doses.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-03 - Referred to Health & Human Services [SB1025 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-SB1025-Introduced.html
  88R3962 LRM-D
 
  By: Kolkhorst S.B. No. 1025
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to immunization requirements and documentation, including
  adverse event tracking following the administration of vaccines and
  booster doses.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Sections 38.001(a) and (b-1), Education Code,
  are amended to read as follows:
         (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (c), each [Each]
  student shall be fully immunized against the diseases listed in
  Section 161.004, Health and Safety Code [diphtheria, rubeola,
  rubella, mumps, tetanus, and poliomyelitis, except as provided by
  Subsection (c)].
         (b-1)  Each year, the Department of State Health Services
  shall prepare a list of the immunizations required [under this
  section] for admission to public schools [and of any additional
  immunizations the department recommends for school-age children].  
  The department shall prepare the list in English and Spanish and
  make the list available in a manner that permits a school district
  to easily post the list on the district's Internet website as
  required by Section 38.019.
         SECTION 2.  Section 38.019(a), Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (a)  A school district that maintains an Internet website
  shall post prominently on the website:
               (1)  a list, in English and Spanish, of:
                     (A)  the immunizations required for admission to
  public school in accordance with [by rules of the Department of
  State Health Services adopted under] Section 38.001; and
                     (B)  [any immunizations or vaccines recommended
  for public school students by the Department of State Health
  Services; and
                     [(C)]  health clinics in the district that offer
  the influenza vaccine, to the extent those clinics are known to the
  district; and
               (2)  a link to the page on the Department of State
  Health Services Internet website that provides [where a person may
  obtain] information relating to the procedures for claiming an
  exemption from the immunization requirements of Section 38.001.
         SECTION 3.  Sections 51.933(b) and (b-1), Education Code,
  are amended to read as follows:
         (b)  The executive commissioner of the Health and Human
  Services Commission may require a student at an institution of
  higher education who is pursing a course of study in a human or
  animal health profession to be immunized [immunizations] against
  the diseases listed in Subsection (a) and against hepatitis B,
  measles, rabies, and varicella, as applicable. The [additional
  diseases for students at any institution of higher education who
  are pursuing a course of study in a human or animal health
  profession, and the] executive commissioner may require those
  immunizations for any students in times of an emergency or epidemic
  in a county where the commissioner of state health services has
  declared such an emergency or epidemic.
         (b-1)  A requirement [rule adopted] under Subsection (b) for
  [that requires] a student to be immunized against hepatitis B
  [vaccination for students] may apply only to students enrolled in a
  course of study that involves potential exposure to human or animal
  blood or bodily fluids.
         SECTION 4.  Sections 81.023(a) and (c), Health and Safety
  Code, are amended to read as follows:
         (a)  The executive commissioner may recommend to the
  legislature immunizations to include on the list of immunizations
  required [department shall develop immunization requirements] for
  children under Section 161.004.
         (c)  The department shall cooperate with the State Board of
  Education in [formulating and] implementing immunization
  requirements for students admitted to public or private primary or
  secondary schools.
         SECTION 5.  Section 161.004(a), Health and Safety Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         (a)  Every child in the state shall be immunized against
  diphtheria, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, measles, meningococcal,
  mumps, pertussis, polio, rubella, tetanus, and varicella [vaccine
  preventable diseases caused by infectious agents] in accordance
  with the [immunization] schedule prescribed [adopted] in
  department rules. The executive commissioner may not require
  immunizations against any additional diseases for students
  admitted to a public or private primary or secondary school.
         SECTION 6.  The heading to Section 161.0085, Health and
  Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
         Sec. 161.0085.  [COVID-19] VACCINE PASSPORTS AND USE OF
  CERTAIN IMMUNIZATION INFORMATION PROHIBITED.
         SECTION 7.  Section 161.0085, Health and Safety Code, is
  amended by amending Subsections (b), (c), and (e) and adding
  Subsection (b-1) to read as follows:
         (b)  A person [governmental entity] in this state may not
  issue a written or electronic vaccine passport, vaccine pass, or
  other standardized documentation to certify an individual's
  [COVID-19] vaccination status to a third party for a purpose other
  than health care or otherwise publish or share any individual's
  [COVID-19] immunization record or similar health information to
  facilitate the individual's identification related to vaccination
  status for a purpose other than health care.
         (b-1)  A person may not use information contained in the
  immunization registry or any other immunization records collected
  by a state agency or a local governmental entity, including a school
  district, to issue or facilitate the issuance of a vaccine
  passport, vaccine pass, or other standardized documentation to
  certify an individual's vaccination status in violation of
  Subsection (b).
         (c)  A business in this state may not require a customer to
  provide any documentation certifying the customer's [COVID-19]
  vaccination status or post-transmission recovery of a communicable
  disease on entry to, to gain access to, or to receive service from
  the business. A business that fails to comply with this subsection
  is not eligible to receive a grant or enter into a contract payable
  with state funds.
         (e)  This section may not be construed to:
               (1)  restrict a business from implementing [COVID-19]
  screening and infection control protocols in accordance with state
  and federal law to protect public health; or
               (2)  interfere with an individual's right to access the
  individual's personal health information under federal law.
         SECTION 8.  Subchapter A, Chapter 161, Health and Safety
  Code, is amended by adding Section 161.0086 to read as follows;
         Sec. 161.0086.  ADVERSE EVENT REPORTING SYSTEM FOR VACCINES
  AND BOOSTER DOSES. (a) In this section "health care practitioner"
  means an individual licensed or otherwise authorized by this state
  to administer vaccines.
         (b)  The department shall establish and maintain on the
  department's Internet website a publicly accessible reporting
  system to track adverse events following the administration of a
  vaccine or booster dose of that vaccine. The reporting system must:
               (1)  enable health care practitioners and other
  individuals to submit information in accordance with this section;
  and
               (2)  be maintained separately from the immunization
  registry or any other statewide registry for tracking immunization
  information.
         (c)  A health care practitioner who administers a vaccine or
  booster dose of that vaccine to a patient shall submit to the
  reporting system information on any adverse event the patient
  experiences following the administration of the vaccine or booster
  dose, regardless of whether the vaccine or booster dose caused the
  adverse event.
         (d)  An individual who obtains a vaccine or booster dose of
  that vaccine may report to the reporting system information on any
  adverse event the individual experiences following the
  administration of the vaccine or booster dose, regardless of
  whether the vaccine or booster dose caused the adverse event.
         (e)  The appropriate licensing authority may impose
  disciplinary action, including an administrative penalty, on a
  health care practitioner who violates this section in the same
  manner and using the same procedures as the authority uses to impose
  disciplinary action on a health care practitioner who violates the
  authority's licensing or other regulatory laws or rules.
         (f)  The executive commissioner shall adopt rules necessary
  to implement this section, including rules to ensure that
  information accessible through the reporting system does not
  disclose personally identifiable information or information that
  is confidential under state or federal law.
         SECTION 9.  The following provisions are repealed:
               (1)  Section 38.001(b), Education Code, as amended by
  Chapters 43 (H.B. 1098) and 94 (H.B. 1059), Acts of the 80th
  Legislature, Regular Session, 2007;
               (2)  Section 38.001(f), Education Code; and
               (3)  Section 161.0085(a), Health and Safety Code.
         SECTION 10.  (a) The changes in law made by this Act to
  Chapter 38, Education Code, apply starting with the 2023-2024
  school year.
         (b)  The changes in law made by this Act to Chapter 51,
  Education Code, apply beginning with the 2023-2024 academic year.
         SECTION 11.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
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