By: Lewis H.B. No. 1206
73R4475 KLL-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to anatomical gifts.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 11B, Chapter 173, Acts of the 47th
1-5 Legislature, Regular Session, 1941 (Article 6687b, Vernon's Texas
1-6 Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 11B. ANATOMICAL GIFTS. (a) A person who wishes to be
1-8 an eye, tissue, or organ donor may execute a statement of gift
1-9 symbolized on the face of the donor's driver's license or personal
1-10 identification card. A symbol of gift indicated on the face of a
1-11 driver's license or personal identification card complies with the
1-12 requirements of Chapter 692, Health and Safety Code.
1-13 (b) A person who does not wish to be an eye, tissue, or
1-14 organ donor may execute a statement that the person is not a donor,
1-15 which shall be symbolized on the face of the person's driver's
1-16 license or personal identification card. A symbol that the person
1-17 is not a donor must be easily distinguishable from the symbol of
1-18 gift under Subsection (a) of this section.
1-19 (c) A statement of gift or a statement that a person is not
1-20 a donor must be executed each time a driver's license or personal
1-21 identification card is renewed, reinstated, or replaced.
1-22 (d) <(c)> The driver's license or personal identification
1-23 card of a person who is involved in an accident or other trauma
1-24 shall accompany the person to the hospital or other health care
2-1 facility if the person has executed a statement of gift, or if the
2-2 person has executed a statement that the person is not a donor,
2-3 symbolized on the license or card.
2-4 (e) <(d)> If the patient meets the medical criteria for
2-5 organ or tissue donation, the receiving hospital shall immediately
2-6 notify the organ or tissue procurement organization as soon as
2-7 brain death or cardiac death occurs, whichever is first. The organ
2-8 or tissue procurement organization shall immediately determine if
2-9 the deceased is a declared donor.
2-10 (f) <(e)> If the deceased is not a declared donor, the organ
2-11 or tissue procurement organization shall make the required request
2-12 of a person listed in Section 692.004, Health and Safety Code,
2-13 according to the priority established by that section. The organ
2-14 or tissue procurement organization may authorize the hospital or
2-15 the hospital's agent to make that request. However, the request
2-16 may not be made if the deceased has executed a statement that the
2-17 deceased is not a donor and the statement is symbolized on the face
2-18 of the deceased's driver's license or personal identification card.
2-19 (g) <(f)> If a person listed in Section 692.004, Health and
2-20 Safety Code, cannot be identified and contacted within four hours
2-21 after death is pronounced and the medical examiner determines that
2-22 no reasonable likelihood exists that a person can be identified and
2-23 contacted during the four-hour period, the medical examiner may
2-24 permit the removal of a visceral organ or tissue. In this
2-25 subsection, "visceral organ" means the heart, kidney, liver, or
2-26 other organ or tissue that requires a patient support system to
2-27 maintain the viability of the organ or tissue.
3-1 (h) <(g)> A person who performs in good faith in carrying
3-2 out this section is not civilly or criminally liable for the
3-3 person's good-faith efforts to comply with this section. The
3-4 legislature recognizes that because swiftness of action is required
3-5 in organ and tissue donation situations, good-faith errors are
3-6 preferable to delay as a matter of public policy.
3-7 (i) <(h)> A person who is not applying for the issuance,
3-8 renewal, reinstatement, or replacement of a driver's license or
3-9 personal identification card but who wishes to execute or revoke a
3-10 statement of gift, or who wishes to execute a statement that the
3-11 person is not a donor, to be symbolized on the person's license or
3-12 card may apply to the Department for an amendment to the license or
3-13 card and pay a fee in the amount of a duplicate fee.
3-14 SECTION 2. Sections 692.014(d) and (e), Health and Safety
3-15 Code, are amended to read as follows:
3-16 (d) A photocopy of the decedent's driver's license or
3-17 personal identification card with a statement of anatomical gift
3-18 symbolized on it or a telefaxed message from an organ or tissue
3-19 procurement organization is conclusive evidence of the decedent's
3-20 status as a donor. A photocopy of the decedent's driver's license
3-21 or personal identification card with a statement that the decedent
3-22 is not a donor symbolized on it is conclusive evidence that the
3-23 decedent is not a donor.
3-24 (e) If the decedent is not a declared donor or has not
3-25 executed a statement that the decedent is not a donor as authorized
3-26 by Section 11B, Chapter 173, Acts of the 47th Legislature, Regular
3-27 Session, 1941 (Article 6687b, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), the
4-1 organ or tissue procurement organization or its designee shall
4-2 inform the person of the option to donate the decedent's organs and
4-3 tissues according to the procedures established under this chapter
4-4 and under Section 11B, Chapter 173, Acts of the 47th Legislature,
4-5 Regular Session, 1941 (Article 6687b, Vernon's Texas Civil
4-6 Statutes).
4-7 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
4-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-12 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-13 passage, and it is so enacted.