By: Corte (Senate Sponsor - Carona) H.B. No. 423

(In the Senate - Received from the House March 29, 2007; April 3, 2007, read first time and referred to Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security; April 20, 2007, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0; April 20, 2007, sent to printer.)

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to requiring that medical examiners and justices of the peace report certain deaths that result from a motor vehicle accident to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 550.081, Transportation Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 550.081. [CORONER'S] REPORT OF MEDICAL EXAMINER OR JUSTICE OF THE PEACE. (a) A medical examiner or justice of the peace acting as coroner in a county that does not have a medical examiner's office or that is not part of a medical examiner's district [other officer performing similar functions] shall submit a [, not later than the 10th day of each month:

[(1)] report in writing to the department of the death of a person that was [within the officer's jurisdiction during the preceding calendar month as] the result of a traffic accident to which this chapter applies and that occurred within the jurisdiction of the medical examiner or justice of the peace in the preceding calendar quarter.

(b) The [; and

[(2) include in the] report must be submitted before the 11th day of each calendar month and include:

(1) the name of the deceased and a statement as to whether the deceased was:

(A) the operator of or a passenger in a vehicle involved in the accident; or

(B) a pedestrian or other nonoccupant of a vehicle;

(2) the date of the accident and the name of the county in which the accident occurred;

(3) the name of any laboratory, medical examiner's office, or other facility that conducted toxicological testing relative to the deceased; and

(4) the results of any toxicological testing that was conducted [the time, place, and circumstances of the accident].

(c) A report required by this section shall be sent to:

(1) the crash records bureau of the department at its headquarters in Austin; or

(2) any other office or bureau of the department that the department designates.

(d) If toxicological test results are not available to the medical examiner or justice of the peace on the date a report must be submitted, the medical examiner or justice shall:

(1) submit a report that includes the statement "toxicological test results unavailable"; and

(2) submit a supplement to the report that contains the information required by Subsections (b)(3) and (4) as soon as practicable after the toxicological test results become available.

(e) The department shall prepare and when requested supply to medical examiners' offices and justices of the peace the forms necessary to make the reports required by this section.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.

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