BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.H.B. 3238 |
By: McClendon |
County Affairs |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Spouses of intravenous drug users, as well as first responders and law enforcement personnel, may come into contact with infected needles through accidental encounters or in the performance of their duties. Interested parties report that preventing the spread of infectious diseases from infected needles costs far less when compared with funding treatment after infection. Such parties assert that a disease prevention outreach program could assist in prevention efforts by properly disposing of used needles as medical waste, thus reducing the number of contaminated needles used or shared and decreasing the contraction of bloodborne infectious diseases by other persons who may be unaware of their exposure. Under these programs, trained personnel and volunteers offer safe distribution of clean needles and safe kits, providing a choice to use a clean needle and potentially curb the spread of needle-borne infectious disease.
Interested parties contend that through the power of education and compassion, safe needle exchange outreach programs succeed in reducing the cases of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis among program participants and help participants take personal responsibility and make informed decisions about their own health care and the health of others. C.S.H.B. 3238 seeks to reduce the spread of infectious diseases by enabling Bexar, Dallas, El Paso, Harris, Nueces, Travis, and Webb Counties and hospital districts in those counties to establish and operate an infectious disease control outreach pilot program.
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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.
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ANALYSIS
Section 531.0055, Government Code, as amended by Chapter 198 (H.B. 2292), Acts of the 78th Legislature, Regular Session, 2003, expressly grants to the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission all rulemaking authority for the operation of and provision of services by the health and human services agencies. Similarly, Sections 1.16-1.29, Chapter 198 (H.B. 2292), Acts of the 78th Legislature, Regular Session, 2003, provide for the transfer of a power, duty, function, program, or activity from a health and human services agency abolished by that act to the corresponding legacy agency. To the extent practical, this bill analysis is written to reflect any transfer of rulemaking authority and to update references as necessary to an agency's authority with respect to a particular health and human services program.
C.S.H.B. 3238 amends the Health and Safety Code to add temporary provisions, set to expire September 1, 2023, authorizing a county, a hospital district in the county, or an organization that contracts with a county or a hospital district to operate a disease control pilot program in Bexar, Dallas, El Paso, Harris, Nueces, Travis, and Webb Counties in order to prevent the spread of HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and other infectious and communicable diseases. The bill authorizes the pilot programs to include disease control outreach programs that provide for the anonymous exchange of used hypodermic needles and syringes for an equal number of new hypodermic needles and syringes, to offer education on the transmission and prevention of communicable diseases, and to assist program participants in obtaining health care and other physical and mental health-related services.
C.S.H.B. 3238 authorizes a county, a hospital district, or other organization operating such a disease control pilot program to charge a participant in the program a fee for each hypodermic needle or syringe used in the program not to exceed 150 percent of the actual cost of the hypodermic needle or syringe. The bill requires a county, a hospital district, or other organization operating such a disease control pilot program to annually provide the Department of State Health Services with information on the effectiveness of the program, the program's impact on reducing the spread of communicable diseases, and the program's effect on injected drug use in the area served by the county or hospital district.
C.S.H.B. 3238 authorizes a person licensed as a wholesale drug distributor or device distributor under the Texas Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to distribute hypodermic needles and syringes to a disease control pilot program and requires an operator of a disease control pilot program to store hypodermic needles and syringes in a proper and secure manner. The bill authorizes only authorized employees or volunteers of a disease control pilot program to have access to the hypodermic needles and syringes, which may be included in safe kits made available by the outreach program. The bill defines "safe kit" to mean a package given by a disease control pilot program to a program participant that may include alcohol swabs, a condom, cotton swabs, a hypodermic needle or syringe, and a tourniquet. The bill authorizes program clients to obtain hypodermic needles and syringes and safe kits only from an authorized employee or volunteer of the pilot program and requires the operator of a disease control pilot program to store and dispose of used hypodermic needles and syringes in accordance with rules adopted by the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC). The bill authorizes a county or hospital district, except to the extent specifically prohibited by law, to use public money and to solicit or accept gifts, grants, or donations to fund such a disease control pilot program.
C.S.H.B. 3238 authorizes a person to dispense or deliver a hypodermic needle or syringe if that person dispenses or delivers the needle or syringe for a medical purpose, which the bill defines as including the exchange of a hypodermic needle or syringe for a used hypodermic needle or syringe in a program described by the bill's provisions. The bill makes it an exception to the offense of possession or delivery of drug paraphernalia that the person manufactures hypodermic needles or syringes for delivery to a disease control pilot program established under the bill's provisions or that the person is an employee, volunteer, duly authorized agent, or participant of a disease control pilot program and uses, possesses, or delivers a hypodermic needle or syringe as part of the program.
C.S.H.B. 3238 amends the Government Code to revise a provision relating to guidance provided by HHSC to an obsolete pilot program established by the local health authority of Bexar County to instead apply the provision to a county and the hospital districts of Bexar, Dallas, El Paso, Harris, Nueces, Travis, and Webb Counties in establishing a pilot program as provided by the bill.
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EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2013.
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COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 3238 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and highlighted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
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