BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 3005

By: Coleman

Corrections

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Under current law, certain individuals whose profession may put them at risk of contracting certain infectious diseases, such as HIV, through involuntary contact may request that a local health authority or the Department of State Health Services order testing of the person who may have exposed the individual.  The list of individuals that may request an order for testing includes law enforcement officers, fire fighters, emergency medical service employees, and correctional officers and employees.  Juvenile probation officers are not included, yet face the same risk as these other individuals.

H.B. 3005 adds juvenile probation employees to the list of individuals authorized to request testing of another person who may have exposed the individual to a reportable disease. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 3005 amends the Health and Safety Code to add an employee of a juvenile probation department to the list of persons authorized to request the Department of State Health Services or a health authority to order testing of another person who may have exposed the person to a reportable disease, including HIV infection.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the act does not receive the necessary vote, the act takes effect September 1, 2009.