Enrolled Bill Summary

Senate Bill 1191	Senate Author:  Davis et al.
Effective:  9-1-13	House Sponsor:  Thompson, Senfronia

            Senate Bill 1191 amends the Health and Safety Code to prohibit a person from performing a forensic examination on a sexual assault survivor unless the person has at least basic sexual assault forensic evidence collection training or the equivalent education, which includes approved continuing medical or nursing education courses. The bill requires each health care facility that has an emergency department that is not designated in a community-wide plan as the community's primary health care facility for treating sexual assault survivors to develop a plan to train personnel on sexual assault forensic evidence collection. The bill requires such a facility to inform a sexual assault survivor that the facility is not the community's designated facility, to provide to the survivor the name and location of the designated facility, and to inform the survivor that the survivor is entitled to receive the care required to be provided to the survivor at the current facility or to be stabilized and transferred to and receive such care at the community's designated facility. The bill prescribes stabilization and transfer procedures for a sexual assault survivor who chooses to be transferred and specifies that each health care facility that has an emergency department must comply with statutory provisions relating to minimum standards for emergency services provided to survivors of sexual assault.

            Senate Bill 1191 establishes that statutory provisions relating to emergency services for survivors of sexual assault do not affect participating entities of children's advocacy centers or the working protocols set forth by their multidisciplinary teams to ensure access to specialized medical assessments for sexual assault survivors who are minors and requires the Department of State Health Services to post on its Internet website a list of all hospitals that are designated in a community-wide plan as the primary health care facility in the community for treating sexual assault survivors.