|
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
relating to the vaccination against bacterial meningitis of certain |
|
first-time students at public institutions of higher education. |
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
SECTION 1. Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is |
|
amended by adding Section 51.9192 to read as follows: |
|
Sec. 51.9192. BACTERIAL MENINGITIS VACCINATION REQUIRED |
|
FOR CERTAIN STUDENTS; EXCEPTIONS. (a) In this section: |
|
(1) "Health practitioner" means any person authorized |
|
by law to administer an immunization. |
|
(2) "Institution of higher education" has the meaning |
|
assigned by Section 61.003. |
|
(b) This section applies only to a first-time student of an |
|
institution of higher education, including a transfer student, who |
|
resides in, or has applied for on-campus housing and been approved |
|
to reside in, an on-campus dormitory or other on-campus student |
|
housing facility at the institution. |
|
(c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), before |
|
registering for any course at an institution of higher education, a |
|
student to whom this section applies or a parent or guardian of the |
|
student must provide to the institution a certificate signed by a |
|
health practitioner evidencing that the student has been vaccinated |
|
against bacterial meningitis. |
|
(d) A student to whom this section applies or a parent or |
|
guardian of the student is not required to comply with Subsection |
|
(c) if the student or a parent or guardian of the student submits to |
|
the institution of higher education: |
|
(1) an affidavit or a certificate signed by a |
|
physician who is duly registered and licensed to practice medicine |
|
in the United States in which it is stated that, in the physician's |
|
opinion, the vaccination required would be injurious to the health |
|
and well-being of the student; or |
|
(2) an affidavit signed by the student stating that |
|
the vaccination conflicts with the tenets and practice of a |
|
recognized church or religious denomination of which the student is |
|
an adherent or member, except that the exemption provided by this |
|
subdivision does not apply in times of emergency or epidemic |
|
declared by the commissioner of state health services. |
|
SECTION 2. Section 51.9192, Education Code, as added by |
|
this Act, applies only to first-time students enrolling in public |
|
institutions of higher education in this state on or after January |
|
1, 2010. |
|
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, 2009. |