H.B. No. 1406
AN ACT
relating to a recommendation by a school district employee
concerning a use of a psychotropic drug by a student or suggestion
of a particular diagnosis and to refusal by a parent or certain
other person to consent to administration of a psychotropic drug to
a student or to psychiatric evaluation or examination of a student.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 38, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 38.016 to read as follows:
Sec. 38.016. PSYCHOTROPIC DRUGS AND PSYCHIATRIC
EVALUATIONS OR EXAMINATIONS. (a) In this section:
(1) "Parent" includes a guardian or other person
standing in parental relation.
(2) "Psychotropic drug" means a substance that is:
(A) used in the diagnosis, treatment, or
prevention of a disease or as a component of a medication; and
(B) intended to have an altering effect on
perception, emotion, or behavior.
(b) A school district employee may not:
(1) recommend that a student use a psychotropic drug;
or
(2) suggest any particular diagnosis; or
(3) use the refusal by a parent to consent to
administration of a psychotropic drug to a student or to a
psychiatric evaluation or examination of a student as grounds, by
itself, for prohibiting the child from attending a class or
participating in a school-related activity.
(c) Subsection (b) does not:
(1) prevent an appropriate referral under the child
find system required under 20 U.S.C. Section 1412, as amended; or
(2) prohibit a school district employee who is a
registered nurse, advanced nurse practitioner, physician, or
certified or appropriately credentialed mental health professional
from recommending that a child be evaluated by an appropriate
medical practitioner; or
(3) prohibit a school employee from discussing any
aspect of a child's behavior or academic progress with the child's
parent or another school district employee.
(d) The board of trustees of each school district shall
adopt a policy to ensure implementation and enforcement of this
section.
(e) An act in violation of Subsection (b) does not override
the immunity from personal liability granted in Section 22.051 or
other law or the district's sovereign and governmental immunity.
SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2003-2004
school year.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1406 was passed by the House on April
30, 2003, by the following vote: Yeas 142, Nays 0, 2 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 1406 on May 30, 2003, by the following vote: Yeas 139, Nays 1,
2 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1406 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 28, 2003, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor