By Truan S.B. No. 1516
75R7474 DLF-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the reporting of occupational conditions.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. The heading of Chapter 84, Health and Safety
1-5 Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-6 CHAPTER 84. REPORTING OF OCCUPATIONAL CONDITIONS [DISEASES]
1-7 SECTION 2. Sections 84.001-84.003, Health and Safety Code,
1-8 are amended to read as follows:
1-9 Sec. 84.001. SHORT TITLE. This chapter may be cited as the
1-10 Occupational Condition [Disease] Reporting Act.
1-11 Sec. 84.002. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
1-12 (1) "Occupational condition [disease]" means a
1-13 disease, [or] abnormal health condition, or laboratory finding that
1-14 is caused by or is related to exposure to a substance or condition
1-15 [conditions] in the workplace.
1-16 (2) "Reportable condition [disease]" means a disease,
1-17 [or] condition, or laboratory finding required to be reported under
1-18 this chapter.
1-19 (3) "Health care professional" means an individual
1-20 who is licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized to administer
1-21 health care, for profit or otherwise, in the ordinary course of the
1-22 individual's business or professional practice.
1-23 Sec. 84.003. REPORTABLE CONDITIONS [DISEASES]; RULES. (a)
1-24 Asbestosis and[,] silicosis[, and elevated blood lead levels in
2-1 adults] are occupational conditions [diseases] that are reportable
2-2 to the department.
2-3 (b) An elevated blood lead level in an adult is a laboratory
2-4 finding that is reportable to the department. The board shall adopt
2-5 rules governing the blood lead levels that are reportable under
2-6 this chapter.
2-7 (c) The board may adopt rules that require other
2-8 occupational conditions [diseases] to be reported under this
2-9 chapter. Before the board requires another [other] occupational
2-10 condition [diseases] to be reported, the board must find that the
2-11 condition [disease]:
2-12 (1) has a well-understood etiology;
2-13 (2) results predominantly from occupational exposure
2-14 to a substance or condition [conditions]; and
2-15 (3) is preventable.
2-16 (d) [(c)] The board shall maintain a list of reportable
2-17 conditions [diseases].
2-18 (e) [(d)] The board shall adopt rules necessary to
2-19 administer and implement this chapter.
2-20 SECTION 3. Sections 84.004(a) and (b), Health and Safety
2-21 Code, are amended to read as follows:
2-22 (a) The following persons shall report cases or suspected
2-23 cases of reportable conditions [diseases] to the department:
2-24 (1) a physician who diagnoses or treats the individual
2-25 with the occupational condition [disease]; [and]
2-26 (2) a person who is in charge of a clinical or
2-27 hospital laboratory, blood bank, mobile unit, or other facility in
3-1 which a laboratory examination of any specimen derived from a human
3-2 body yields microscopical, cultural, serological, or other evidence
3-3 suggestive of the condition; and
3-4 (3) another health care professional who is aware of
3-5 the case or suspected case of a reportable condition [disease].
3-6 (b) The department may contact a physician attending a
3-7 person with a case or a suspected case of an occupational condition
3-8 [disease]. [From information received from laboratory
3-9 notification, the department may not, without the attending
3-10 physician's consent, contact the person from whom the specimen was
3-11 obtained if the notification indicates that the person has an
3-12 attending physician.]
3-13 SECTION 4. Sections 84.005(b) and (c), Health and Safety
3-14 Code, are amended to read as follows:
3-15 (b) The department may seek, receive, and spend any funds
3-16 received through appropriations, grants, or donations from public
3-17 or private sources for the purpose of identifying, reporting, or
3-18 preventing those occupational conditions [diseases] that have been
3-19 determined by the board to be injurious or to be a threat to the
3-20 public health, subject to any limitations or conditions prescribed
3-21 by the legislature.
3-22 (c) Subject to the confidentiality requirements of this
3-23 chapter, the department shall evaluate the reports of occupational
3-24 conditions [diseases] to establish the nature and magnitude of the
3-25 hazards associated with those conditions [diseases], to prevent the
3-26 occurrence of those hazards, and to establish any trends involved.
3-27 SECTION 5. Section 84.006(a), Health and Safety Code, is
4-1 amended to read as follows:
4-2 (a) All information and records relating to reportable
4-3 conditions [diseases] are confidential. That information may not
4-4 be released or made public on subpoena or otherwise, except that
4-5 release of information may be made:
4-6 (1) for statistical purposes, but only if a person is
4-7 not identified;
4-8 (2) with the consent of each person identified in the
4-9 information released; or
4-10 (3) to medical personnel in a medical emergency to the
4-11 extent necessary to protect the health or life of the named person.
4-12 SECTION 6. Sections 87.007(a) and (b), Health and Safety
4-13 Code, are amended to read as follows:
4-14 (a) The department shall investigate the causes of
4-15 occupational conditions [diseases] and methods of prevention.
4-16 (b) In performing the commissioner's duty to prevent an
4-17 occupational condition [disease], the commissioner or the
4-18 commissioner's designee may enter at reasonable times and inspect
4-19 within reasonable limits all or any part of an area, structure, or
4-20 conveyance, regardless of ownership, that is not used for private
4-21 residential purposes.
4-22 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
4-23 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-24 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-25 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-26 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-27 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-1 passage, and it is so enacted.