By Dukes H.B. No. 1183
76R4753 MCK-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to performing certain tests on newborn children.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. The chapter heading to Chapter 33, Health and
1-5 Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-6 CHAPTER 33. PHENYLKETONURIA, OTHER HERITABLE DISEASES,
1-7 [AND] HYPOTHYROIDISM, AND HEARING DISORDERS
1-8 SECTION 2. Section 33.011, Health and Safety Code, is
1-9 amended to read as follows:
1-10 Sec. 33.011. TEST REQUIREMENT. (a) The physician attending
1-11 a newborn child or the person attending the delivery of a newborn
1-12 child that is not attended by a physician shall subject the child
1-13 to screening tests approved by the department for phenylketonuria,
1-14 other heritable diseases, [and] hypothyroidism, and hearing
1-15 disorders.
1-16 (b) The department may prescribe the screening test
1-17 procedures to be used and the standards of accuracy and precision
1-18 required for each test.
1-19 (c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), the [The]
1-20 screening tests required by this section must be performed by the
1-21 laboratory established by the department or by a laboratory
1-22 approved by the department under Section 33.016.
1-23 (d) The screening test for hearing disorders must be
1-24 performed by a person who has completed a training program approved
2-1 by the department.
2-2 SECTION 3. Subchapter B, Chapter 33, Health and Safety Code,
2-3 is amended by adding Section 33.0145 to read as follows:
2-4 Sec. 33.0145. HEARING SCREENING RESULTS; FOLLOW-UP. (a) If
2-5 the screening test for hearing disorders indicates that the newborn
2-6 child may have a hearing disorder, the person performing the test
2-7 shall:
2-8 (1) notify the parents of the newborn child of the
2-9 test results; and
2-10 (2) submit the test results to the department.
2-11 (b) If a screening test indicates that a newborn child may
2-12 have a hearing disorder, the department shall recommend that the
2-13 child be placed under the medical care of a licensed physician for
2-14 diagnosis and provide the name of a consultant pediatric specialist
2-15 in the child's geographic area.
2-16 (c) The department, the health authority, and the consulting
2-17 pediatric specialist may follow up a positive test by consulting
2-18 with the attending physician or with a parent of the newborn child
2-19 if the child was not attended by a physician at birth.
2-20 SECTION 4. Section 33.032(a), Health and Safety Code, is
2-21 amended to read as follows:
2-22 (a) Within the limits of funds available for this purpose
2-23 and in cooperation with the individual's physician, the department
2-24 may provide services directly or through approved providers to
2-25 individuals of any age who meet the eligibility criteria specified
2-26 by board rules on the confirmation of a positive test for
2-27 phenylketonuria, other heritable diseases, [or] hypothyroidism, or
3-1 a hearing disorder.
3-2 SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-3 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
3-4 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-5 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-6 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-7 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.