Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
By Berlanga H.B. No. 3054
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the creation of an immunization registry and to
1-3 reporting requirements concerning immunizations and providing
1-4 criminal penalties.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 161, Health and Safety
1-7 Code, is amended by adding Section 161.007 to read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 161.007. IMMUNIZATION REGISTRY; REPORTS TO DEPARTMENT.
1-9 (a) The department, for purposes of establishing and maintaining a
1-10 single repository of accurate, complete, and current immunization
1-11 records to be used in aiding, coordinating, and promoting effective
1-12 and cost-efficient childhood disease prevention and control
1-13 efforts, shall establish and maintain a childhood immunization
1-14 registry.
1-15 (b) Any person who administers a vaccine or vaccines
1-16 licensed for use in children by the United States Food and Drug
1-17 Administration to a child under the age of 18 shall for each such
1-18 immunization provide to the department such data as are deemed by
1-19 the department to be necessary and appropriate for purposes of the
1-20 immunization registry established pursuant to subsection (a) of
1-21 this section, including, without limitation:
1-22 (1) the name of the child;
1-23 (2) the child's date and place of birth;
1-24 (3) mother's maiden name;
2-1 (4) the names and addresses of the child's custodial
2-2 parents, managing conservators, or guardians;
2-3 (5) the date of the immunization and the specific type
2-4 or types of vaccine or vaccines administered to the child on that
2-5 date and
2-6 (6) the name and address of the health care provider
2-7 who administered the immunization.
2-8 (c) The department may utilize the registry to provide
2-9 notices, whether by mail, telephone, personal contact, or other
2-10 means, to parents, managing conservators, or guardians regarding
2-11 their children or wards who are due or overdue for a particular
2-12 type of immunization according to the department's immunization
2-13 schedules. The department shall consult with health care providers
2-14 to determine the most effective and efficient manner of using the
2-15 registry to provide such notices.
2-16 (d) Immunization records for any child included within the
2-17 immunization registry shall be maintained as part of the registry
2-18 until the child reaches the age of 18.
2-19 (e) Individually identifiable immunization information
2-20 regarding a child may be provided to the department by, or released
2-21 by the department to, a public health district, a local health
2-22 department, hospital, physician, or other health care provider to
2-23 the child or to a school or child care facility without the consent
2-24 of the child's parent, managing conservator, or guardian. However,
2-25 a parent may request a specific exemption to prohibit or restrict
2-26 the release of information. A parent or guardian may obtain and
2-27 upon request to the department shall be provided with individually
2-28 identifiable immunization registry information regarding his or her
2-29 child or ward. Except as provided otherwise by this section,
2-30 individually identifiable immunization registry information shall
3-1 be treated as confidential and shall not be released to a third
3-2 party without consent of a child's parent, managing or possessory
3-3 conservator, or guardian.
3-4 (f) Nothing in this section shall:
3-5 (1) prohibit the department from providing or
3-6 publishing registry information in aggregate form for scientific,
3-7 educational, or public health purposes, provided that such
3-8 information is published without releasing or identifying
3-9 individual names contained in the registry;
3-10 (2) prohibit the department or any health care
3-11 provider from notifying a parent, guardian, or child of the child's
3-12 immunization status or of a immunization that is due or overdue
3-13 according to the department's immunization schedules; or
3-14 (3) diminish a parent's, managing conservator's, or
3-15 guardian's responsibility for having a child immunized properly.
3-16 (g) Any person, including but not limited to health care
3-17 providers, submitting or obtaining in good faith immunization
3-18 reports or data to or from the department in compliance with the
3-19 provisions of this section and any rules adopted pursuant to this
3-20 section shall not be liable for any civil damages.
3-21 (h) The board shall adopt rules to implement this section.
3-22 (i) (1) A person commits an offense if, with criminal
3-23 negligence and in violation of this section, the person releases or
3-24 discloses immunization registry information.
3-25 (2) A person commits an offense if, with criminal
3-26 negligence, the person uses the information in the registry to
3-27 solicit new patients or clients or for other purposes which are not
3-28 associated with immunization purposes unless specified in this
3-29 section.
3-30 (3) An offense under this subsection is a Class A
4-1 misdemeanor.
4-2 SECTION 2. (a) Except as provided by subsection (b) of this
4-3 section, this Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
4-4 (b) Section 161.007(b), Health and Safety Code, as added by
4-5 this Act, takes effect January 1, 1999.
4-6 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
4-7 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-8 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-9 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-10 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.