| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
| |
|
|
relating to an immunization awareness program in certain school |
|
|
districts. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the Emily Lastinger Act. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 38.001, Education Code, is amended by |
|
|
amending Subsections (b), (d), and (e) and adding Subsection (b-1) |
|
|
to read as follows: |
|
|
(b) Subject to Subsection (c), the Department of State |
|
|
[Texas Board of] Health Services may modify or delete any of the |
|
|
immunizations in Subsection (a) or may require immunizations |
|
|
against additional diseases as a requirement for admission to any |
|
|
elementary or secondary school. |
|
|
(b-1) Each year, the Department of State Health Services |
|
|
shall prepare a list of the immunizations required under this |
|
|
section for admission to public schools and of any additional |
|
|
immunizations the department recommends for school-age children. |
|
|
The department shall prepare the list in English and Spanish and |
|
|
make the list available in a manner that permits a school district |
|
|
to easily post the list on the district's Internet website as |
|
|
required by Section 38.019. |
|
|
(d) The [Texas] Department of State Health Services shall |
|
|
provide the required immunization to children in areas where no |
|
|
local provision exists to provide those services. |
|
|
(e) A person may be provisionally admitted to an elementary |
|
|
or secondary school if the person has begun the required |
|
|
immunizations and if the person continues to receive the necessary |
|
|
immunizations as rapidly as is medically feasible. The [Texas] |
|
|
Department of State Health Services shall adopt rules relating to |
|
|
the provisional admission of persons to an elementary or secondary |
|
|
school. |
|
|
SECTION 3. Subchapter A, Chapter 38, Education Code, is |
|
|
amended by adding Section 38.019 to read as follows: |
|
|
Sec. 38.019. IMMUNIZATION AWARENESS PROGRAM. (a) A school |
|
|
district that maintains an Internet website shall post prominently |
|
|
on the website: |
|
|
(1) a list, in English and Spanish, of: |
|
|
(A) the immunizations required for admission to |
|
|
public school by rules of the Department of State Health Services |
|
|
adopted under Section 38.001; |
|
|
(B) any immunizations or vaccines recommended |
|
|
for public school students by the Department of State Health |
|
|
Services; and |
|
|
(C) health clinics in the district that offer the |
|
|
influenza vaccine, to the extent those clinics are known to the |
|
|
district; and |
|
|
(2) a link to the Department of State Health Services |
|
|
Internet website where a person may obtain information relating to |
|
|
the procedures for claiming an exemption from the immunization |
|
|
requirements of Section 38.001. |
|
|
(a-1) The link to the Department of State Health Services |
|
|
Internet website provided under Subsection (a)(2) must be presented |
|
|
in the same manner as the information provided under Subsection |
|
|
(a)(1). |
|
|
(b) The list of recommended immunizations or vaccines under |
|
|
Subsection (a)(2) must include the influenza vaccine, unless the |
|
|
Department of State Health Services requires the influenza vaccine |
|
|
for admission to public school. |
|
|
SECTION 4. Section 38.019, Education Code, as added by this |
|
|
Act, applies beginning with the 2007-2008 school year. |
|
|
SECTION 5. 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, 2007. |
|
|
|
|
|
* * * * * |