Bill Text: TX SB1786 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Relating to the form of certain advance directives.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-18 - Referred to Health & Human Services [SB1786 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-SB1786-Introduced.html

---

86R4631 LED-D
By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 1786

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the form of certain advance directives.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 166.032(c), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(c) A declarant may include in a directive directions other
than those provided in the form designated under Section 166.0325
or prescribed by Section 166.033 and may designate in a directive a
person to make a health care or treatment decision for the declarant
in the event the declarant becomes incompetent or otherwise
mentally or physically incapable of communication.
SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 166, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 166.0325 to read as follows:
Sec. 166.0325. PERMISSIBLE FORMS OF ADVANCE DIRECTIVE;
DESIGNATED ADVANCE DIRECTIVE. (a) A written directive may be in a
form:
(1) designated by the executive commissioner under
Subsection (b); or
(2) prescribed by Section 166.033.
(b) The executive commissioner by rule shall designate a
document to be recognized in this state as a written and validly
executed advance directive. The document must:
(1) be promulgated by a national nonprofit
organization;
(2) be written in plain language;
(3) allow a declarant to provide a health care
instruction;
(4) require a declarant to name an agent who is at
least 18 years of age to make health care decisions for the
declarant when the declarant lacks the capacity to make the
decisions;
(5) allow a declarant to name an alternate agent who is
at least 18 years of age to make health care decisions for the
declarant if the agent is unable or unwilling to make the decisions;
(6) allow the declarant to specify or limit the health
care decisions an agent may make for the declarant;
(7) allow the declarant to specify the health care
treatments the declarant approves or does not approve;
(8) allow the declarant to specify the personal,
spiritual, and emotional care the declarant approves or does not
approve;
(9) allow the declarant to detail information the
declarant wants conveyed to family members and friends, including
the declarant's wishes for a memorial service or burial;
(10) require the declarant to sign and date the
advance directive in the presence of two witnesses who qualify
under Section 166.003, at least one of whom qualifies under Section
166.003(2); and
(11) be accepted as a validly executed advance
directive in at least 40 other states of the United States.
(c) The commission shall post on the commission's Internet
website a link to the document designated under Subsection (b).
SECTION 3. Section 166.036(a), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Section 166.032(b-1), a written
directive executed under Section 166.0325, 166.033, or 166.035 is
effective without regard to whether the document has been
notarized.
SECTION 4. Section 166.102(b), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) When responding to a call for assistance, emergency
medical services personnel:
(1) shall honor only a properly executed or issued
out-of-hospital DNR order or prescribed DNR identification device
in accordance with this subchapter; and
(2) have no duty to review, examine, interpret, or
honor a person's other written directive, including a written
directive in the form designated under Section 166.0325 or
prescribed by Section 166.033.
SECTION 5. Subchapter D, Chapter 166, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 166.163 to read as follows:
Sec. 166.163. PERMISSIBLE FORMS OF MEDICAL POWER OF
ATTORNEY. Notwithstanding Section 166.164, a medical power of
attorney may be:
(1) in a form prescribed by Section 166.164; or
(2) a document designated by the executive
commissioner under Section 166.0325, provided the document
designates an agent and is executed in the manner required by
Section 166.154.
SECTION 6. Not later than December 1, 2019, the executive
commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission shall by
rule designate a document as required by Section 166.0325, Health
and Safety Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.