BILL ANALYSIS
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Senate Research Center |
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AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
It is becoming more common for emergency services personnel to cross state lines to provide services in nondeclared states of emergency, which is making interstate cooperation for emergency medical services licensing more urgent. State and national stakeholders have developed an emergency medical services (EMS) licensing compact under which member states would agree to honor other jurisdictions' licenses as long as the license is issued in another member state in a manner consistent with the compact. This compact is similar to other compacts that apply to nursing and state driver's licenses. H.B. 2498 seeks to provide for Texas entering the compact.
H.B. 2498 amends the Health and Safety Code to enact the EMS Personnel Licensure Interstate Compact and to enter the state into the compact. The bill establishes that the compact is intended to facilitate the day to day movement of emergency medical services personnel across state boundaries. The bill includes in the compact a provision establishing that a home state's license for an individual to practice as an emergency medical technician, an advanced emergency medical technician, paramedic, or a level in between an emergency medical technician and paramedic authorizes the individual to practice in another member state under certain conditions and sets out provisions relating to home state licensure. The bill sets out the conditions under which an individual may practice in another member state.
H.B. 2498 sets out the relationship between the compact and the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. The bill sets out provisions relating to the licensing of veterans, service members separating from active duty, and their spouses. The bill includes in the compact a provision granting a home state the exclusive power to impose adverse action against an individual's license issued by the home state and sets out provisions relating to such adverse actions and additional powers invested in a member state's emergency medical services authority.
H.B. 2498 includes in the compact a provision establishing the Interstate Commission for EMS Personnel Practice to facilitate the governance of the compact and sets out provisions relating to the commission's composition, duties and authority, operation, and financing. The bill includes in the compact a requirement that the commission provide for the development and maintenance of a coordinated database and reporting system containing licensure, adverse action, and significant investigatory information on all licensed individuals in member states and sets out provisions relating to this database. The bill sets out provisions relating to the rulemaking authority of the commission; oversight, dispute resolution, and enforcement of the compact; implementation of the compact; withdrawal from the compact; amendments to the compact; and the construction and severability of the compact's provisions.
H.B. 2498 amends current law relating to a compact with other states regarding the licensure of emergency medical services personnel and the authority of those personnel to perform job duties in this state and other states.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Subtitle B, Title 9, Health and Safety Code, by adding Chapter 778A, as follows:
CHAPTER 778A. RECOGNITION OF EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES PERSONNEL LICENSURE INTERSTATE COMPACT ("REPLICA")
Sec. 778A.001. EXECUTION OF INTERSTATE COMPACT. Provides that this state enacts the EMS Personnel Licensure Interstate Compact and enters into the compact with all other states legally joining in the compact in substantially the following form. Sets forth the language of the compact.
SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 2015.