Bill Text: TX SCR26 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Designating November as COPD Awareness Month for a 10-year period beginning in 2013, and directing the Texas Department of State Health Services to include COPD as a chronic health condition in their public awareness and educational efforts.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2013-06-14 - Signed by the Governor [SCR26 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-SCR26-Enrolled.html
S.C.R. No. 26 |
|
||
WHEREAS, "Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease" (COPD) is | ||
an umbrella term used to describe progressive lung diseases | ||
including emphysema, chronic bronchitis, refractory nonreversible | ||
asthma, and some forms of bronchiectasis; and | ||
WHEREAS, In people with COPD, the airways and air sacs in the | ||
lungs lose their elastic qualities and cannot bounce back to their | ||
original shape and then become swollen and thicker and in some cases | ||
partially blocked or obstructed, leading to difficulty breathing | ||
and ultimately to the inability to breathe; and | ||
WHEREAS, Smoking is the main risk factor for developing COPD, | ||
and secondhand smoke exposure, occupational dust, chemical | ||
exposure, air pollution, and genetics are also common causes of | ||
COPD; and | ||
WHEREAS, Nationally the COPD Foundation reports that COPD is | ||
responsible for direct and indirect health care-related costs | ||
projected at $49.9 billion in 2010, and that 70 percent of those | ||
costs are related to hospitalizations; and | ||
WHEREAS, It is also estimated by the Agency for Healthcare | ||
Research and Quality that one out of five individuals over forty in | ||
the hospital have COPD; and | ||
WHEREAS, In Texas the prevalence of COPD is 5.5 percent of the | ||
total population, and COPD affects individuals across all age | ||
groups but at even higher rates for individuals aged 55-64 at 8.1 | ||
percent and individuals 65 and over at a shocking 13.3 percent; and | ||
WHEREAS, The American Association for Respiratory Care | ||
reports that nationally just over half of all persons with COPD | ||
report that their condition limits their ability to work and 34 | ||
percent say that COPD keeps them from working; and | ||
WHEREAS, There is no cure for COPD, and its lung damage is | ||
irreversible; treatments can improve a patient's quality of life by | ||
reducing frequency and severity of exacerbations, prevent symptoms | ||
from growing worse, and improving health status; and | ||
WHEREAS, Treatments for COPD include stopping smoking, | ||
removing air pollutants from home and work, and treating symptoms | ||
with medication and pulmonary rehabilitation; and | ||
WHEREAS, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | ||
reports that in 2011 chronic lower respiratory diseases, which are | ||
included within the conditions under the umbrella term of COPD, are | ||
the third-leading cause of death in the United States; and | ||
WHEREAS, Many individuals who experience shortness of breath | ||
or other early symptoms of COPD mistake these symptoms as being a | ||
part of the normal aging process and then wait to receive treatments | ||
until the conditions are severe and the lung damage is | ||
significantly more difficult to treat and manage; and | ||
WHEREAS, Concerted public outreach efforts such as a | ||
DRIVE4COPD, the nation's largest public awareness and screening | ||
campaign for COPD, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood | ||
Institute's COPD "Learn More Breathe Better Campaign" can | ||
dramatically improve public awareness of COPD; now, therefore, be | ||
it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 83rd Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
hereby recognize Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease as a chronic | ||
health condition in Texas which contributes to increasing health | ||
care costs and decreasing productivity of its citizens; and, be it | ||
further | ||
RESOLVED, That the 83rd Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
direct the Texas Department of State Health Services to include | ||
COPD as a chronic health condition in their efforts to address | ||
serious and chronic health conditions in Texas by seeking out and | ||
applying for funding and grants available to provide public | ||
awareness or treatment for COPD in Texas; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the 83rd Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
direct the Texas Department of State Health Services to include | ||
COPD as a chronic health condition in their current efforts to | ||
educate the public about the effects of smoking or other | ||
preventable and treatable chronic health conditions; and, be it | ||
further | ||
RESOLVED, That the 83rd Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
hereby designate November as COPD Awareness Month; and, be it | ||
further | ||
RESOLVED, That in accordance with the provisions of Section | ||
391.004(d), Government Code, the designation expires on the 10th | ||
anniversary of the date this resolution is passed by the | ||
legislature. | ||
______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
I hereby certify that S.C.R. No. 26 was adopted by the Senate | ||
on April 25, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Secretary of the Senate | ||
I hereby certify that S.C.R. No. 26 was adopted by the House | ||
on May 14, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 143, Nays 0, two | ||
present not voting. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Chief Clerk of the House | ||
Approved: | ||
______________________________ | ||
Date | ||
______________________________ | ||
Governor |