HBA-MSH H.B. 3312 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3312
By: Dunnam
Public Safety
3/28/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, a 9-1-1 system must be capable of transmitting requests
for fire-fighting, law enforcement, ambulance, and medical services to the
proper public safety agency that provides the requested service.  In many
cases, the staff of a 9-1-1 center is able to provide direction and advice
over the phone during an emergency before emergency services arrive on the
scene of the emergency. However, some 9-1-1 centers do not have personnel
trained in providing pre-arrival instructions.  House Bill 3312 creates
state emergency medical dispatch resource centers to provide pre-arrival
instructions to 9-1-1 callers. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 3312 amends the Health and Safety Code to require the Commission
on State Emergency Communications (commission) and the Texas Department of
Health (TDH) to jointly establish one or more state emergency medical
dispatch resource centers (center).  The center will provide 24-hour
pre-arrival instructions that may be accessed by public safety answering
points in areas of the state in which the public safety answering point is
not adequately staffed to provide life-saving and other emergency medical
instructions to persons who need guidance while awaiting the arrival of
emergency medical personnel.  The bill authorizes an emergency
communication district (district) to choose whether to participate in
receiving the services offered by a center without regard to whether the
district is participating in the applicable regional plan. The bill
requires each public safety answering point in an area served by a
participating district to have direct telephone access to an emergency
medical dispatch center and for it to be accessible through all 9-1-1
services in the regions.  The bill requires TDH to operate each center or
to contract out for its operation and to ensure that each center is
adequately staffed.  The bill specifies that the liability provisions for
9-1-1 service apply to an emergency medical dispatch resource center. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.