BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3219

By: Shofner

Public Health

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Ivermectin is an anthelmintic drug that was first used by veterinarians to prevent and treat a wide variety of internal and external parasites in commercial livestock and household animals. The bill author has informed the committee that, for the past decade, studies have shown a breakthrough that the use of ivermectin treatments in humans is also a proven antiviral and anti-inflammatory medication, most commonly used to treat COVID-19 and malaria. Additionally, the bill author has informed the committee that ivermectin has undergone 105 studies in 30 countries on 220,423 patients run by 1,206 scientists with a success rate of 85 percent in prophylaxis, 62 percent in early treatment, and 40 percent in late treatment for COVID-19, and, as of March 2025, 53 ivermectin studies have shown a 47 percent lower mortality rate for COVID-19 with significantly lower risk in hospitalization, ICU admission, and ventilation. C.S.H.B. 3219 seeks to allow for easier accessibility to ivermectin for all Texas residents.

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 executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission and the Texas State Board of Pharmacy in SECTION 1 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3219 amends the Health and Safety Code to require the commissioner of state health services, as soon as practicable after the bill's effective date, to issue a statewide order authorizing a licensed pharmacist to dispense ivermectin without a health care practitioner's prescription order notwithstanding any other law. The bill requires the statewide order to include written, standardized procedures or protocols for a pharmacist to follow when dispensing ivermectin and require the pharmacist to provide each patient with instructions on the proper use of ivermectin. The bill authorizes a pharmacist to dispense ivermectin in accordance with the statewide order.

C.S.H.B. 3219 establishes that a pharmacist acting in a reasonably prudent manner is not criminally or civilly liable or subject to professional disciplinary action for dispensing ivermectin in accordance with the statewide order. The bill requires a pharmacist dispensing ivermectin in accordance with the statewide order to provide an annual written report in the form and manner the Department of State Health Services prescribes on the number of doses of ivermectin the pharmacist dispensed in accordance with the statewide order in the preceding calendar year. The bill authorizes the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission and the Texas State Board of Pharmacy to adopt the rules necessary to implement the bill's provisions.

C.S.H.B. 3219 prohibits the commissioner's issuance of a statewide order from being the basis for criminal or civil liability against the commissioner or disciplinary action by a licensing entity in the state that issues a license to the commissioner.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2025.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 3219 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

Whereas the introduced establishes that, except for wilful misconduct or gross negligence, a pharmacist acting in good faith is not criminally or civilly liable or subject to professional disciplinary action for dispensing ivermectin in accordance with the statewide order, the substitute establishes that a pharmacist acting in a reasonably prudent manner is not criminally or civilly liable or subject to professional disciplinary action for dispensing ivermectin in accordance with the statewide order.

The substitute includes a provision absent from the introduced that prohibits the commissioner's issuance of a statewide order from being the basis for criminal or civil liability against the commissioner or disciplinary action by a licensing entity in the state that issues a license to the commissioner.