By Goodman H.B. No. 1084
74R4230 CAG-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the disclosure of certain veterinarian records to
1-3 public health authorities for rabies and zoonosis control.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 18E, The Veterinary Licensing Act
1-6 (Article 8890, Revised Statutes), is amended by amending
1-7 Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsections (e), (f), and (g) to
1-8 read as follows:
1-9 (a) Except as provided by Subsection (e) of this section, a
1-10 <A> veterinarian may not violate the confidential relationship
1-11 between the veterinarian and a client and may not be required to
1-12 disclose any information concerning the veterinarian's care for an
1-13 animal except on written authorization or another form of waiver
1-14 executed by the client or on receipt by the veterinarian of an
1-15 appropriate court order or subpoena.
1-16 (b) A veterinarian who releases information on written
1-17 authorization or another form of waiver executed by the client,
1-18 <or> on receipt by the veterinarian of an appropriate court order
1-19 or subpoena, or as required by Subsection (e) of this section is
1-20 not liable to the client or any other person for an action
1-21 resulting from the release of that information.
1-22 (e) The Texas Board of Health or a political subdivision may
1-23 enact a rule or ordinance requiring a veterinarian to disclose:
1-24 (1) rabies vaccine records;
2-1 (2) rabies vaccination records;
2-2 (3) records and other information on the quarantine
2-3 and treatment of an animal that has inflicted a bite or scratch on
2-4 a person or that is suspected of being rabid; and
2-5 (4) other records necessary to aid zoonosis control.
2-6 (f) Information disclosed by a veterinarian under Subsection
2-7 (e) of this section is not public information and may only be
2-8 released or made public by the Texas Board of Health or a political
2-9 subdivision health authority to:
2-10 (1) a person who received a bite or scratch from an
2-11 animal capable of transmitting rabies or, if the person is a child,
2-12 a person having the right to consent to medical treatment for the
2-13 child;
2-14 (2) medical personnel treating a person for a bite or
2-15 scratch made by an animal capable of transmitting rabies;
2-16 (3) another veterinarian treating another animal for a
2-17 bite or scratch made by an animal capable of transmitting rabies;
2-18 (4) a local health authority in the area from which
2-19 the information was disclosed that requests information on an
2-20 animal capable of transmitting rabies in that area;
2-21 (5) a state or federal agency, including the Centers
2-22 for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States Public
2-23 Health Service, involved in zoonosis control;
2-24 (6) a court hearing a case involving the prosecution
2-25 of an offense under Chapter 826, Health and Safety Code;
2-26 (7) a person or agency compiling statistics if the
2-27 information is released in a manner that prevents the
3-1 identification of the animal or the animal's owner;
3-2 (8) a person entitled to the information under a court
3-3 order or subpoena; or
3-4 (9) a person having the written consent of the
3-5 animal's owner.
3-6 (g) In this section, "zoonosis" means a disease communicable
3-7 from a lower animal to a human under natural conditions.
3-8 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
3-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-13 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-14 passage, and it is so enacted.