By: Klick (Senate Sponsor - Powell) H.B. No. 3819

(In the Senate - Received from the House May 12, 2021; May 12, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on Education; May 24, 2021, reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 24, 2021, sent to printer.) Click here to see the committee vote

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 3819 By: Powell

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to a public school district policy providing that a school nurse may administer prescription asthma medicine to a student.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 38.208, Education Code, is amended by amending Subsection (b-1) and adding Subsections (b-2) and (b-3) to read as follows:

(b-1) If a policy is adopted under Subsection (a-1), the policy must provide that the school nurse may administer prescription asthma medicine to a student only if the student has a clinical presentation of asthma with signs and symptoms which may include respiratory distress, dyspnea, labored breathing, audible wheezing, tightness of chest, or a persistent cough and the school [nurse] has [written] notification from a parent or guardian of the student that [the student has been diagnosed as having asthma and stating that] the school nurse may administer prescription asthma medicine if [to] the student experiences respiratory distress. A school nurse may administer the prescription asthma medicine only at a school campus.

(b-2) If prescription asthma medication is administered to a student whose parent or guardian has not provided notification to the school that the student has been diagnosed with asthma, the school nurse must refer the student to the student's primary care provider on the day medication is administered to the student. The school nurse shall provide notification to the student's parent or guardian regarding the referral. The referral must include:

(1) notification of the student's physical assessment;

(2) the name of the medication administered to the student; and

(3) patient care instructions given to the student.

(b-3) If a student who has received asthma medication does not have a primary care provider or the parent or guardian of the student has not engaged a primary care provider for the student, the student's parent or guardian must receive information to assist the parent or guardian in selecting a primary care provider for the student.

SECTION 2. 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, 2021.

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