Bill Text: TX SB1123 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to border health programs conducted by the Department of State Health Services in collaboration with Mexican and federal authorities.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-04-17 - Co-author authorized [SB1123 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-SB1123-Introduced.html

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86R13291 SCL-D
By: Lucio S.B. No. 1123

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to border health programs conducted by the Department of
State Health Services in collaboration with Mexican and federal
authorities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Subchapter F, Chapter 12, Health
and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER F. [OFFICE OF] BORDER HEALTH
SECTION 2. Subchapter F, Chapter 12, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 12.075 to read as follows:
Sec. 12.075. BORDER HEALTH PROGRAMS WITH MEXICO. The
department, in collaboration with the Office of State-Federal
Relations and appropriate federal agencies, shall for counties
located along the international border with Mexico:
(1) increase collaboration between local, state, and
federal public health agencies in this state and local, state, and
federal public health agencies in Mexico;
(2) expand vector-borne disease surveillance,
testing, and insecticide resistance testing and collaborate with
the appropriate Mexican authorities to expand that surveillance and
testing in the Mexican states located along the Texas-Mexico
border;
(3) expand border infectious disease surveillance
projects provided by the federal Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention;
(4) support sister-city binational health councils by
establishing binational epidemiology and surveillance teams to
exchange information between local governmental agencies in this
state and in Mexico;
(5) formalize public health surveillance, testing,
information sharing, and public health mitigation strategies
between local and state health departments, the United States, and
the appropriate counterparts in Mexico by:
(A) establishing and entering into a memorandum
of understanding or other agreement; and
(B) establishing appropriate protocols and
procedures; and
(6) participate in binational sister-city, state, and
national conferences on strategies for increasing collaboration,
communication, and protocol sharing between jurisdictions impacted
by local and international public health concerns.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.