Enrolled Bill Summary

            House Bill 3312 amends the Health and Safety Code to require the Texas Department of Health, with the assistance of the emergency medical services advisory council, to establish a pilot program to test the efficacy of using emergency medical dispatchers located in a regional emergency medical dispatch resource center to provide life-saving and other emergency medical instructions to persons who need guidance while awaiting the arrival of emergency medical personnel. The bill requires the Commission on State Emergency Communications to provide technical assistance to the department to facilitate the implementation of the pilot program.

            The bill requires the department to determine which public safety answering points are interested in participating in the pilot program and to select one to serve as the regional resource center. The department and the advisory council are required to define criteria that establish the need for emergency medical dispatch intervention, and the department is authorized to use the money in the 9-1-1 service fee fund or to seek grant funding to pay for the pilot program. The bill requires the department to report its findings on the evaluation of the pilot program to the presiding officer of each house of the legislature no later than December 1, 2002, and provides that the provisions of the bill expire September 1, 2003.