bill on the right to choose medical treatment

The text as introduced · 1,011 words

89R2543 LRM-F

By: Hall
S.B. No. 121

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the right to choose medical treatments and certain

control measures and to the imposition of isolation or quarantine

control measures.

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

SECTION 1. The heading to Section 81.009, Health and Safety

Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 81.009. EXEMPTION FROM MEDICAL TREATMENT ; RIGHT TO

CHOOSE MEDICAL TREATMENTS AND CONTROL MEASURES .

SECTION 2. Section 81.009, Health and Safety Code, is

amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to

read as follows:

(a) This chapter does not authorize or require the medical

treatment of an individual who chooses treatment by prayer or

spiritual means [ as part of the tenets and practices of a recognized

church of which the individual is an adherent or member ].

Notwithstanding this subsection, an [ However, the ] individual may

be isolated or quarantined from the public [ in an appropriate

facility ] and must [ shall ] obey the department's or a health

authority's rules, orders, and instructions [ of the department or

health authority ] while in isolation or quarantine.

(c) Notwithstanding other law, an individual, or the

parent, legal guardian, or managing conservator of an individual

who is a minor, retains the right to:

(1) choose and make decisions regarding the medical

treatment provided to the individual; and

(2) choose to implement an alternate control measure

authorized under this chapter, unless the control measure imposed

is for isolation or quarantine.

SECTION 3. Subchapter E, Chapter 81, Health and Safety

Code, is amended by adding Section 81.0825 to read as follows:

Sec. 81.0825. REQUIREMENTS TO IMPLEMENT ISOLATION OR

QUARANTINE CONTROL MEASURES FOR INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP. (a) Before

ordering an individual or a group of individuals to implement

control measures under Section 81.083 or 81.085 that involve

isolation or quarantine, the department or a health authority must:

(1) provide notice of the control measures to the

individual or group of individuals; and

(2) provide to the individual or group of individuals

an opportunity to demonstrate that implementing the control

measures is unnecessary.

(b) The department or a health authority may not order an

individual or a group of individuals to implement control measures

described by Subsection (a) for a period that exceeds five days

unless the department or health authority obtains from a district

court of the county in which the individual or group of individuals

resides, is located, or is receiving court-ordered health services

a court order authorizing the department or health authority to

order the individual or group of individuals to implement the

control measures.

(c) In ordering an individual or group of individuals to

implement control measures described by Subsection (a), the

department or a health authority to the greatest extent possible

must:

(1) use the least restrictive means available;

(2) allow an individual to isolate or quarantine with

other individuals subject to the same court order described by this

section;

(3) if the individual subject to the control measure

is a minor, allow the individual to isolate or quarantine with the

individual's parent, legal guardian, or managing conservator; and

(4) allow an individual to isolate or quarantine in

the individual's home or with another family member or a friend.

SECTION 4. Sections 81.083(b) and (k), Health and Safety

Code, are amended to read as follows:

(b) If the department or a health authority has reasonable

cause to believe that an individual is ill with, has been exposed

to, or is the carrier of a communicable disease, the department or

health authority may , subject to Section 81.0825, order the

individual, or the individual's parent, legal guardian, or managing

conservator if the individual is a minor, to implement control

measures that are reasonable and necessary to prevent the

introduction, transmission, and spread of the disease in this

state.

(k) If the department or a health authority has reasonable

cause to believe that a group of five or more individuals has been

exposed to or infected with a communicable disease, the department

or health authority may , subject to Section 81.0825, order the

members of the group to implement control measures that are

reasonable and necessary to prevent the introduction,

transmission, and spread of the disease in this state. If the

department or health authority adopts control measures under this

subsection, each member of the group is subject to the requirements

of this section.

SECTION 5. Sections 81.085(a) and (c), Health and Safety

Code, are amended to read as follows:

(a) If an outbreak of communicable disease occurs in this

state, the commissioner or one or more health authorities may ,

subject to Section 81.0825, impose an area quarantine coextensive

with the area affected. The commissioner may impose an area

quarantine, if the commissioner has reasonable cause to believe

that individuals or property in the area may be infected or

contaminated with a communicable disease, for the period necessary

to determine whether an outbreak of communicable disease has

occurred. A health authority may impose the quarantine only within

the boundaries of the health authority's jurisdiction.

(c) The department may , subject to Section 81.0825, impose

additional disease control measures in a quarantine area that the

department considers necessary and most appropriate to arrest,

control, and eradicate the threat to the public health. Absent

preemptive action by the department under this chapter or by the

governor under Chapter 418, Government Code (Texas Disaster Act of

1975), a health authority may impose in a quarantine area under the

authority's jurisdiction additional disease control measures that

the health authority considers necessary and most appropriate to

arrest, control, and eradicate the threat to the public health.

SECTION 6. Section 81.009(b), Health and Safety Code, is

repealed.

SECTION 7. 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, 2025.