By Hodge                                              H.B. No. 1556
         76R6609 PEP-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to reports of overdoses of certain controlled substances
 1-3     to the Texas Department of Health; creating an offense.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 161, Health and Safety
 1-6     Code, is amended to read as follows:
 1-7           SUBCHAPTER E.  REPORTS OF GUNSHOT WOUNDS AND CONTROLLED
 1-8                             SUBSTANCE OVERDOSES
 1-9           Sec. 161.041.  MANDATORY REPORTING OF GUNSHOT WOUNDS.  A
1-10     physician who attends or treats, or who is requested to attend or
1-11     treat, a bullet  or gunshot wound, or the administrator,
1-12     superintendent, or other person in charge of a hospital,
1-13     sanitorium, or other institution in which a bullet or gunshot wound
1-14     is attended or treated or in which the attention or treatment is
1-15     requested, shall report the case at once to the law enforcement
1-16     authority of the municipality or county in which the physician
1-17     practices or in which the institution is located.
1-18           Sec. 161.042.  MANDATORY REPORTING OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE
1-19     OVERDOSES.  (a) A physician who attends or treats, or who is
1-20     requested to attend or treat, an overdose of a controlled substance
1-21     listed in Penalty Group 1 under Section 481.102, or the
1-22     administrator, superintendent, or other person in charge of a
1-23     hospital, sanitorium, or other institution in which an overdose of
1-24     a controlled substance listed in Penalty Group 1 under Section
 2-1     481.102 is attended or treated or in which the attention or
 2-2     treatment is requested, shall report the case at once to the
 2-3     department.
 2-4           (b)  A physician or other person who reports an overdose of a
 2-5     controlled substance under this section shall include in the report
 2-6     information regarding the date of the overdose, the type of
 2-7     controlled substance used, the sex and approximate age of the
 2-8     person attended or treated for the overdose or for whom treatment
 2-9     was sought, and the extent of treatment made necessary by the
2-10     overdose.  The physician or other person making the report may
2-11     provide other demographic information concerning the person
2-12     attended or treated or for whom treatment was sought but may not
2-13     disclose the person's name or address or any other information
2-14     concerning the person's identity.
2-15           (c)  A hospital, sanitorium, or other institution that makes
2-16     a report under this section is not subject to civil or criminal
2-17     liability for damages arising out of the report.  An individual who
2-18     makes a good faith report under this section is not subject to
2-19     civil or criminal liability for damages arising out of the report.
2-20           Sec. 161.043.  CRIMINAL PENALTY.  (a)  A person commits an
2-21     offense if the person is required to report under this subchapter
2-22     and intentionally fails to report.
2-23           (b)  An offense under this section is a misdemeanor
2-24     punishable by confinement in jail for not more than six months or
2-25     by a fine of not more than $100.
2-26           Sec. 161.044.  CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE OVERDOSE INFORMATION
2-27     REPOSITORY.  (a)  The department shall maintain a central
 3-1     repository for the collection and analysis of information relating
 3-2     to incidents of a controlled substance overdose for which a
 3-3     physician or other person is required to report to the department
 3-4     under Section 161.042.  The department may not include in the
 3-5     repository any information the physician or other person is
 3-6     precluded from reporting under that section.
 3-7           (b)  The department shall release statistical information
 3-8     contained in the central repository on the request of a medical
 3-9     professional or representative of a law enforcement agency.
3-10           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-11           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
3-12     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-13     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-14     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-15     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.