By: Guerra H.B. No. 3582
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the awarding of grants to initiate, expand, maintain,
  and improve emergency medical services and to support medical
  systems and facilities that provide trauma care.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 3.  Section 773.119(b), Health and Safety Code, is
  amended as follows:
         (b)  The executive commissioner by rule shall establish
  eligibility criteria for awarding the grants. The rules must
  require the department to consider:
               (1)  the need of an area for the provision of emergency
  medical services or trauma care and the extent to which the grant
  would meet the identified need;
               (2)  the availability of personnel and training
  programs;
               (3)  the availability of other funding sources;
               (4)  the assurance of providing quality services;
               (5)  the use or acquisition of helicopters for
  emergency medical evacuation; [and]
               (6)  the development or existence of an emergency
  medical services system; and
               (7)  the development of a centralized system for the
  dispatch, triage, transport, and transfer of patients, including
  the use or acquisition of technology, to ensure coordinated patient
  transports and transfers, the efficient utilization of trauma care
  and emergency medical services.
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
  a vote of two-thirds of all 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, 2021.