1-1  By:  Zaffirini                                        S.B. No. 1098
    1-2        (In the Senate - Filed March 9, 1995; March 14, 1995, read
    1-3  first time and referred to Committee on Health and Human Services;
    1-4  March 29, 1995, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
    1-5  Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 8, Nays 0; March 29, 1995,
    1-6  sent to printer.)
    1-7  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1098               By:  Zaffirini
    1-8                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-9                                AN ACT
   1-10  relating to consent for the immunization of a minor.
   1-11        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-12        SECTION 1.  Subsections (a) and (c), Section 35.011, Family
   1-13  Code, are amended to read as follows:
   1-14        (a)  Any of the following may consent to the immunization of
   1-15  a minor in the absence of <if> a parent, managing conservator,
   1-16  guardian of the minor, or other person who, under the law of
   1-17  another state or a court order, may consent for the minor <cannot
   1-18  be contacted> and the authority to consent is not denied under
   1-19  Subsection (b) of this section:
   1-20              (1)  a grandparent;
   1-21              (2)  an adult brother or sister;
   1-22              (3)  an adult aunt or uncle;
   1-23              (4)  a stepparent;
   1-24              (5)  an educational institution in which the minor is
   1-25  enrolled and that has written authorization to consent for the
   1-26  minor from a parent, managing conservator, guardian of the minor,
   1-27  or other person who, under the law of another state or a court
   1-28  order, may consent for the minor;
   1-29              (6)  another adult who has care and control of the
   1-30  minor and has written authorization to consent for the minor from a
   1-31  parent, managing conservator, guardian of the minor, or other
   1-32  person who, under the law of another state or a court order, may
   1-33  consent for the minor;
   1-34              (7)  a court having jurisdiction of a suit affecting
   1-35  the parent-child relationship of which the minor is the subject;
   1-36              (8)  an adult having care and control of the minor
   1-37  under an order of a juvenile court or by commitment by a juvenile
   1-38  court to the care of an agency of the state or county, if the adult
   1-39  reasonably believes the minor needs immunization; or
   1-40              (9)  an adult having care and control of the minor as
   1-41  the primary caregiver of the minor<, if the adult is granted the
   1-42  right to consent to immunization of the minor by order of a
   1-43  district court as provided in Section 35.015 of this code>.
   1-44        (c)  The Texas Youth Commission may consent, for a minor
   1-45  committed to it, to the immunization of the minor if a parent,
   1-46  managing conservator, guardian of the minor, or other person who,
   1-47  under the law of another state or a court order, may consent for
   1-48  the minor has been contacted and:
   1-49              (1)  refuses to consent or fails to carry out consent
   1-50  for the minor <or refuses delegation or fails to carry out a
   1-51  delegation under Section 35.012 of this code>; and
   1-52              (2)  does not expressly deny to the Texas Youth
   1-53  Commission the authority to consent for the minor.
   1-54        SECTION 2.  Section 35.013, Family Code, is amended to read
   1-55  as follows:
   1-56        Sec. 35.013.  Consent for Immunization: Informed Consent.
   1-57  (a)  A person authorized under Section 35.011 <or 35.012> of this
   1-58  code to consent to the immunization of a minor has the
   1-59  responsibility to ensure that the consent, if given, is an informed
   1-60  consent.  The person authorized to consent is not required to be
   1-61  present when the immunization of the minor is requested if a
   1-62  consent form that meets the requirements of Section 35.02 of this
   1-63  code has been given to the health care provider.
   1-64        (b)  The responsibility of a health care provider to provide
   1-65  information to a person consenting under Section 35.011 <or 35.012>
   1-66  of this code is the same as the provider's responsibility to a
   1-67  parent.
   1-68        (c)  As part of the information given in the counseling for
    2-1  informed consent, the health care provider shall provide
    2-2  information to inform the person authorized under Section 35.011
    2-3  <or 35.012> of this code to consent to the immunization of a minor
    2-4  of the procedures available under the National Childhood Vaccine
    2-5  Injury Act of 1986 (Pub. L. 99-660) to seek possible recovery for
    2-6  unreimbursed expenses for certain injuries arising out of the
    2-7  administration of certain vaccines.
    2-8        SECTION 3.  Subsection (b), Section 35.014, Family Code, is
    2-9  amended to read as follows:
   2-10        (b)  A person consenting under Section 35.011 <or 35.012> of
   2-11  this code, a physician, nurse, other health care provider licensed
   2-12  to practice in this state, or a public health clinic, hospital, or
   2-13  other medical facility is not liable for damages arising from an
   2-14  immunization administered to a minor as authorized under Section
   2-15  35.011 <or 35.012> of this code except for the person's or
   2-16  facility's own acts of negligence.
   2-17        SECTION 4.  Subsection (d), Section 35.011, and Sections
   2-18  35.012 and 35.015, Family Code, are repealed.
   2-19        SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-20  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-21  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-22  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-23  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-24  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-25  passage, and it is so enacted.
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