By Glaze                                              H.B. No. 1603
       74R5685 KLL-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the certification of emergency medical dispatchers.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 773, Health and Safety
    1-5  Code, is amended by adding Section 773.0551 to read as follows:
    1-6        Sec. 773.0551.  CERTIFICATION OF EMERGENCY MEDICAL
    1-7  DISPATCHERS.  (a)  The department shall provide for the voluntary
    1-8  certification of emergency medical dispatchers.
    1-9        (b)  The board by rule shall establish minimum standards for
   1-10  certification as an emergency medical dispatcher.
   1-11        (c)  A nonrefundable fee of $25 must accompany each
   1-12  application for certification as an emergency medical dispatcher.
   1-13        (d)  The department shall issue a certificate to an emergency
   1-14  medical dispatcher who meets the minimum standards for
   1-15  certification adopted under this section.  A certificate is valid
   1-16  for four years after the date of issuance.
   1-17        (e)  The department shall charge a fee of $5 to replace a
   1-18  lost or stolen certificate.
   1-19        (f)  This section does not require an emergency medical
   1-20  dispatcher to be certified.
   1-21        (g)  In this section, "emergency medical dispatcher" means an
   1-22  individual who:
   1-23              (1)  provides authorized prearrival instructions to an
   1-24  emergency caller on a telecommunications system; and
    2-1              (2)  may dispatch emergency response personnel and
    2-2  equipment.
    2-3        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-4  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-5  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-6  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-7  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    2-8  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    2-9  passage, and it is so enacted.