H.B. No. 496
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to traumatic injury response protocol and the use of
  bleeding control stations in public schools.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 38, Education Code, is
  amended by adding Section 38.030 to read as follows:
         Sec. 38.030.  TRAUMATIC INJURY RESPONSE PROTOCOL. (a) Each
  school district and open-enrollment charter school shall develop
  and annually make available a protocol for school employees and
  volunteers to follow in the event of a traumatic injury.
         (b)  The protocol required under this section must:
               (1)  provide for a school district or open-enrollment
  charter school to maintain and make available to school employees
  and volunteers bleeding control stations, as described by
  Subsection (d), for use in the event of a traumatic injury involving
  blood loss;
               (2)  ensure that bleeding control stations are stored
  in easily accessible areas of the campus that are selected by the
  district's school safety and security committee or the charter
  school's governing body;
               (3)  require that agency-approved training on the use
  of a bleeding control station in the event of an injury to another
  person be provided to:
                     (A)  each school district peace officer
  commissioned under Section 37.081 or school security personnel
  employed under that section who provides security services at the
  campus;
                     (B)  each school resource officer who provides law
  enforcement at the campus; and
                     (C)  all other district or school personnel who
  may be reasonably expected to use a bleeding control station; and
               (4)  require the district or charter school to annually
  offer instruction on the use of a bleeding control station from a
  school resource officer or other appropriate district or school
  personnel who has received the training under Subdivision (3) to
  students enrolled at the campus in grade seven or higher.
         (c)  A district's school safety and security committee or the
  charter school's governing body may select, as easily accessible
  areas of the campus at which bleeding control stations may be
  stored, areas of the campus where automated external defibrillators
  are stored.
         (d)  A bleeding control station required under this section
  must contain all of the following required supplies in quantities
  determined appropriate by the superintendent of the district or the
  director of the school:
               (1)  tourniquets approved for use in battlefield trauma
  care by the armed forces of the United States;
               (2)  chest seals;
               (3)  compression bandages;
               (4)  bleeding control bandages;
               (5)  space emergency blankets;
               (6)  latex-free gloves;
               (7)  markers;
               (8)  scissors; and
               (9)  instructional documents developed by the American
  College of Surgeons or the United States Department of Homeland
  Security detailing methods to prevent blood loss following a
  traumatic event.
         (e)  In addition to the items listed under Subsection (d), a
  school district or open-enrollment charter school may also include
  in a bleeding control station any medical material or equipment
  that:
               (1)  may be readily stored in a bleeding control
  station;
               (2)  may be used to adequately treat an injury
  involving traumatic blood loss; and
               (3)  is approved by local law enforcement or emergency
  medical services personnel.
         (f)  To satisfy the training requirement of Subsection
  (b)(3), the agency may approve a course of instruction that has been
  developed or endorsed by:
               (1)  the American College of Surgeons or a similar
  organization; or
               (2)  the emergency medicine department of a
  health-related institution of higher education or a hospital.
         (g)  The course of instruction for training described under
  Subsection (f) may not be provided as an online course. The course
  of instruction must use nationally recognized, evidence-based
  guidelines for bleeding control and must incorporate instruction on
  the psychomotor skills necessary to use a bleeding control station
  in the event of an injury to another person, including instruction
  on proper chest seal placement.
         (h)  The course of instruction described under Subsection
  (f) may be provided by emergency medical technicians, paramedics,
  law enforcement officers, firefighters, representatives of the
  organization or institution that developed or endorsed the
  training, educators, other public school employees, or other
  similarly qualified individuals. A course of instruction described
  under Subsection (f) is not required to provide for certification
  in bleeding control. If the course of instruction does provide for
  certification in bleeding control, the instructor must be
  authorized to provide the instruction for the purpose of
  certification by the organization or institution that developed or
  endorsed the course of instruction.
         (i)  The good faith use of a bleeding control station by a
  school district or open-enrollment charter school employee to
  control the bleeding of an injured person is incident to or within
  the scope of the duties of the employee's position of employment and
  involves the exercise of judgment or discretion on the part of the
  employee for purposes of Section 22.0511, and a school district or
  open-enrollment charter school and the employees of the district or
  school are immune from civil liability, as provided by that
  section, from damages or injuries resulting from that good faith
  use of a bleeding control station. A school district or
  open-enrollment charter school volunteer is immune from civil
  liability from damages or injuries resulting from the good faith
  use of a bleeding control station to the same extent as a
  professional employee of the district or school, as provided by
  Section 22.053.
         (j)  Nothing in this section limits the immunity from
  liability of a school district, open-enrollment charter school, or
  district or school employee or volunteer under:
               (1)  Sections 22.0511 and 22.053;
               (2)  Section 101.051, Civil Practice and Remedies Code;
  or
               (3)  any other applicable law.
         (k)  This section does not create a cause of action against a
  school district or open-enrollment charter school or the employees
  or volunteers of the district or school.
         SECTION 2.  (a) Not later than October 1, 2019, the Texas
  Education Agency shall approve a course of instruction on the use of
  a bleeding control station that is appropriate to satisfy the
  requirement under Section 38.030, Education Code, as added by this
  Act.
         (b)  As soon as practicable after the effective date of this
  Act, and not later than January 1, 2020, each school district and
  open-enrollment charter school shall develop and implement the
  traumatic injury response protocol required by Section 38.030,
  Education Code, as added by this Act.
         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, 2019.
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 496 was passed by the House on May 10,
  2019, by the following vote:  Yeas 91, Nays 34, 2 present, not
  voting; that the House refused to concur in Senate amendments to
  H.B. No. 496 on May 23, 2019, and requested the appointment of a
  conference committee to consider the differences between the two
  houses; and that the House adopted the conference committee report
  on H.B. No. 496 on May 26, 2019, by the following vote:  Yeas 124,
  Nays 21, 1 present, not voting.
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 496 was passed by the Senate, with
  amendments, on May 21, 2019, by the following vote:  Yeas 23, Nays
  8; at the request of the House, the Senate appointed a conference
  committee to consider the differences between the two houses; and
  that the Senate adopted the conference committee report on H.B. No.
  496 on May 26, 2019, by the following vote:  Yeas 25, Nays 6.
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate   
  APPROVED: __________________
                  Date       
   
           __________________
                Governor