BILL ANALYSIS

Senate Research Center	H.B. 780
	By: Oliverson et al. (Zaffirini)
	Health & Human Services
	4/19/2021
	Engrossed

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

A bone marrow donation is potentially lifesaving for those diagnosed with various cancers or other serious illnesses. Although the Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas has provided persons applying for their driver's license or identification card the option to register as an organ donor through the Donate Life Texas Registry for more than a decade, the state currently is not offering a similar program to register as a bone marrow donor or to provide Texans with information on how to become a marrow donor.

H.B. 780 would facilitate an increase in bone marrow donations by providing for the establishment of a bone marrow donor recruitment program and the development of related informational materials that will be posted online and made available to appropriate health care facilities, blood banks, and driver's license offices.

H.B. 780 amends current law relating to the establishment of a bone marrow donor recruitment program.

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 2, Health and Safety Code, by adding Chapter 53, as follows:

CHAPTER 53.� BONE MARROW DONOR RECRUITMENT PROGRAM

Sec. 53.001.  ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM. (a) Requires the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to establish a bone marrow donor recruitment program to educate residents of this state about:

(1)  the need for bone marrow donors, including the particular need for donors from minority populations;

(2)  the requirements for registering with the federally authorized bone marrow donor registry established and maintained as required by 42 U.S.C. Section 274k as a potential bone marrow donor, including procedures for determining an individual's tissue type;

(3)  the medical procedures an individual must undergo to donate bone marrow or other sources of blood stem cells; and

(4)  the availability of information about bone marrow donation in health care facilities, blood banks, and driver's license offices.

(b)  Requires DSHS, in consultation with the federally authorized bone marrow donor registry established and maintained as required by 42 U.S.C. Section 274k and the registry's interested contracted network partners, to develop written and electronic informational materials, including links to Internet websites and machine-readable codes, regarding:

(1)  bone marrow donation; and

(2)  the process of registering with the federally authorized bone marrow donor registry.

(c)  Authorizes the federally authorized bone marrow donor registry, in collaboration with the registry's interested contracted network partners, to develop and provide the informational materials described by Subsection (b) to DSHS.

(d)  Requires DSHS and the Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas (DPS) to post the information described by Subsection (b) on each agency's respective Internet websites.

(e)  Authorizes appropriate health care facilities, blood banks, and driver's license offices to access the informational materials described by Subsection (b) on the Internet websites of DSHS and DPS and print the materials to place in their facilities, banks, or offices to provide to residents of this state.

SECTION 2.  Requires DSHS, as soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act, to establish the program and obtain the informational materials as required by Section 53.001, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act.

SECTION 3.  Effective date: September 1, 2021.