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.