BILL ANALYSIS |
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C.S.H.B. 2847 |
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By: Crownover |
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Public Education |
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Committee Report (Substituted) |
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BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
According to interested parties, food allergies are a growing public health issue that affects almost every school district. The parties suggest that a substantial percentage of epinephrine administrations made in a school setting to treat anaphylaxis resulting from a food allergy involve students whose allergy was unknown at the time of the event, who have no known history of allergies, and who, therefore, do not have a prescription. As such, the parties conclude, school districts need the legal authority to keep on-site "stock" epinephrine auto-injectors, not prescribed to a specific person, to be used in anaphylactic reaction emergencies. C.S.H.B. 2847 seeks to provide for such authority.
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CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
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RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the commissioner of state health services and the commissioner of education in SECTION 1 of this bill.
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ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 2847 amends the Education Code to require the commissioner of state health services to establish an advisory committee to examine and review the administration of epinephrine auto-injectors to a person experiencing an anaphylactic reaction on a campus of a school district or an open-enrollment charter school. The bill provides for the composition and organization of the advisory committee, exempts the advisory committee from Government Code provisions relating to state agency advisory committees, and subjects meetings of the advisory committee to state open meetings law. The bill establishes that members of the advisory committee serve without compensation but are entitled to reimbursement for travel expenses. The bill requires the advisory committee to advise the commissioner on the storage and maintenance of epinephrine auto-injectors on school campuses, the training of school personnel and school volunteers in the administration of an epinephrine auto-injector, and a plan for one or more school personnel members or school volunteers trained in the administration of an epinephrine auto-injector to be on each school campus.
C.S.H.B. 2847 authorizes each school district and open-enrollment charter school to adopt and implement a policy regarding the maintenance, administration, and disposal of epinephrine auto-injectors at each campus in the district or school. The bill requires the policy, if adopted, to provide that school personnel and school volunteers who are authorized and trained may administer an epinephrine auto-injector to a person who is reasonably believed to be experiencing anaphylaxis on a school campus and authorizes the policy, if adopted, to provide that school personnel and school volunteers who are authorized and trained may administer an epinephrine auto-injector to a person who is reasonably believed to be experiencing anaphylaxis at an off-campus school event or while in transit to or from a school event.
C.S.H.B. 2847 requires the commissioner of state health services, in consultation with the commissioner of education and with advice from the advisory committee, to adopt rules regarding the maintenance, administration, and disposal of an epinephrine auto-injector at a school campus that establish the number of epinephrine auto-injectors available at each campus, the amount of training required for school personnel and school volunteers to administer an epinephrine auto-injector, and the process for each school district and open-enrollment charter school to check the inventory of epinephrine auto-injectors at regular intervals for expiration and replacement. The bill requires each school district and open-enrollment charter school that adopts an epinephrine auto-injector maintenance, administration, and disposal policy to require that each campus have one or more school personnel members or school volunteers authorized and trained to administer an epinephrine auto-injector present during all hours the campus is open. The bill requires the supply of epinephrine auto-injectors at each campus to be stored in a secure location and be easily accessible to school personnel and school volunteers authorized and trained to administer an epinephrine auto-injector.
C.S.H.B. 2847 requires a school, not later than the 10th business day after the date a school personnel member or school volunteer administers an epinephrine auto-injector, to report certain information to the school district or the charter holder if the school is an open-enrollment charter school, to the physician or other person who prescribed the epinephrine auto-injector, and to the commissioners of education and state health services.
C.S.H.B. 2847 makes each school district and open-enrollment charter school that adopts an epinephrine auto-injector maintenance, administration, and disposal policy responsible for training school personnel and school volunteers in the administration of an epinephrine auto-injector, sets out content requirements for such training, and requires the training to be provided in a formal training session or through online education and to be completed annually. The bill requires each school district and open-enrollment charter school to maintain records on the training.
C.S.H.B. 2847 authorizes a physician or a person who has been delegated prescriptive authority by a physician to prescribe epinephrine auto-injectors in the name of a school district or open-enrollment charter school. The bill requires a physician or other person who does so to provide the school district or open-enrollment charter school with a standing order for the administration of an epinephrine auto-injector to a person reasonably believed to be experiencing anaphylaxis. The bill exempts the standing order from being required to be patient-specific and authorizes the epinephrine auto-injector to be administered to a person without a previously established physician-patient relationship. The bill establishes that supervision or delegation by a physician is considered adequate if the physician periodically reviews the order and is available through direct telecommunication as needed for consultation, assistance, and direction. The bill requires the order to contain certain specified information and authorizes a pharmacist to dispense an epinephrine auto-injector to a school district or open-enrollment charter school without requiring any identifying information relating to the user.
C.S.H.B. 2847 requires a school district or open-enrollment charter school that implements an epinephrine auto-injector maintenance, administration, and disposal policy to provide written notice to a parent or guardian of each student enrolled in the district or school before the policy is implemented by the district or school and before the start of each school year.
C.S.H.B. 2847 authorizes a school district or open-enrollment charter school to accept gifts, grants, donations, and federal and local funds to implement the bill's provisions relating to epinephrine auto-injectors and requires the commissioners of education and state health services, except as otherwise provided, to jointly adopt rules necessary to implement those provisions. The bill grants a person who in good faith takes, or fails to take, any of certain specified actions immunity from civil or criminal liability or disciplinary action resulting from that action or failure to act. The bill establishes the immunities and protections are in addition to other immunities or limitations of liability provided by law and establishes that the bill's provisions relating to epinephrine auto-injectors do not create a civil, criminal, or administrative cause of action or liability or create a standard of care, obligation, or duty that provides a basis for a cause of action for an act or omission under the bill's provisions relating to the maintenance, administration, and disposal of epinephrine auto-injectors. The bill establishes that a cause of action does not arise from an act or omission described by the bill's provisions relating to immunity from liability. The bill grants a school district or open-enrollment charter school and school personnel and school volunteers immunity from suit resulting from an act, or failure to act, under the bill's provisions relating to the maintenance, administration, and disposal of epinephrine auto-injectors. The bill establishes that such an act or failure to act by school personnel or a school volunteer is the exercise of judgment or discretion on the part of the school personnel or school volunteer and is not considered to be a ministerial act for purposes of the district's or school's liability.
C.S.H.B. 2847 exempts a school district or open-enrollment charter school that provides for the maintenance, administration, and disposal of epinephrine auto-injectors from being required to comply with statutory provisions relating to policies for the care of certain students at risk for anaphylaxis. The bill's provisions apply beginning with the 2015–2016 school year.
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EFFECTIVE DATE
On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2015.
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COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 2847 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
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