BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 786

By: Oliverson

Homeland Security & Public Safety

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

There are concerns about the low rate of survival for people who experience sudden cardiac arrest outside of a hospital setting. Evidence indicates that early administration of CPR has a positive impact on a patient's chance of survival. When a person dials 9-1-1, they are in communication with a dispatcher who then directs paramedics to arrive at the scene. It has been suggested that if 9-1-1 dispatchers and other licensed telecommunicators received CPR training they would be able to coach the caller through administering CPR while the paramedics are en route, thus giving the patient a better chance of recovery. C.S.H.B. 786 seeks to require telecommunicators to receive this training as part of their initial licensure training and on an ongoing basis as part of their continuing education.

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.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement in SECTION 3 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 786 amends the Occupations Code to require the training for a telecommunicator license to include telecommunicator CPR training that satisfies the following criteria:

·         it uses the most current nationally recognized emergency cardiovascular care guidelines;

·         it incorporates recognition protocols for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest; and

·         it provides information on best practices for relaying compression-only CPR instructions to callers.

The bill requires the continuing education provided to telecommunicators to include CPR training that satisfies those criteria and removes the requirement that telecommunicator continuing education courses be approved by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE). The bill requires TCOLE to adopt rules necessary to implement the bill's provisions as soon as practicable after the bill's effective date.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2021.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 786 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute does not require each telecommunicator who provides dispatch for medical emergencies to complete a separate training program on CPR not later than the 60th day after the first date of employment. The substitute requires instead that the initial training a person completes to receive a telecommunicator license include CPR training.

The substitute changes the frequency with which a telecommunicator must complete continuing education on CPR from at least as often as nationally recognized standards for telecommunicator CPR training are updated to once every two years as part of the telecommunicator's regular continuing education.

The substitute removes the statutory requirement for telecommunicator continuing education programs to be approved by TCOLE.