SB 398

bill lets pharmacy technicians give vaccines

Died in committee

Verdict: No flags

No flagsInitial review

Initial review · graded Oct 20, 2026 · Headline, summary and grade are analysis of the bill text, not a finding about any person · How we grade

Caption

relating to the delegation to a pharmacy technician of a pharmacist's authority to administer an immunization or vaccine.

Caption from analyzed text · version I.

Summary

Pharmacists can hand off the shots to registered technicians.

The bill lets a Texas pharmacist hand off the job of giving shots and vaccines to a registered pharmacy technician. Before, the law said a pharmacist's authority to give medication could not be handed off at all. The state pharmacy board must write rules to put this in place, and the change takes effect right away if it passes by two-thirds, or on September 1, 2025.

Labels

Labels: ZOMBIE BILL. Died 2 times: 88R HB 5129 by Rep. Raney (Died in committee) and this bill (Died in committee). Checked against 88R only.BACK FROM THE DEAD. Same text as a bill filed before that died: 88R HB 5129 by Rep. Raney (Died in committee). Filed in 2 sessions, counting this one. Checked against 88R only.TRY NO. 2. Filed in 2 sessions: 88R and 89R. Checked against 88R only.NEVER GOT A HEARING. Filed Nov 20, 2024 and referred to the Senate Health & Human Services committee. No public hearing. The bill died.

Receipt

The receipt

89R-SB398 · 2024-11-20

SOLD BY

Sen. Kevin SparksRSenate 31

ITEM

relating to the delegation to a pharmacy technician of a pharmacist's authority to administer an immunization or vaccine.

WHAT IT DOES

Pharmacists can hand off the shots to registered technicians.

CHARGES

[ ] NONE FOUND

TOTAL

No fiscal note in the loaded record.

HISTORY

Nov 20, 2024Received by the Secretary of the Senate
Nov 20, 2024Filed
Feb 3, 2025Read first time
Feb 3, 2025Referred to Health & Human Services

FILED UNDER

No verified beat found.

No flags

THANK YOU FOR CHECKING THE RECEIPT

CAMPAIGN PAID FOR BY

Kevin Sparks

Donors

Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC$60KKyle & Jamie Stallings$25,000Tim Dunn$25,000

Not tied to this bill.

Sources

The author's campaign account only. Own money and internal transfers are separate on the member page.

Derived itemized flow · Jul 25, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC$60,000.00

Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC

$60,000.00

Cash: $60,000.00
Paid by others: $0.00
Total: $60,000.00

Also funds 124 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · Jul 10, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

TEC account match.

Team

Sources

Derived itemized flow · Oct 15, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 101012623, 101029380, 101072732.

Kyle & Jamie Stallings$25,000.00

Tim Dunn$25,000.00

Money

Missing data does not establish zero giving. Display amounts are rounded.

Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC

$60,000.00

Cash: $60,000.00
Paid by others: $0.00
Total: $60,000.00

Also funds 124 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · Jul 10, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

TEC account match.

Team

Sources

Derived itemized flow · Oct 15, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 101012623, 101029380, 101072732.

Votes

No floor vote loaded for this bill.

Fiscal

No fiscal note in the loaded record.

How this was graded

Analysis of text version I by claude-opus-5-5, Oct 20, 2026, against the published rubric.

FILED BEFORE

Filed 2 times: 88R and 89R. Checked against 88R only.

88R HB 5129

by Rep. Raney, different lead author · Died in committee · same text

Introduced text

Last action, Mar 24, 2023: Referred to Public Health

Relating to the delegation to a pharmacy technician of a pharmacist's authority to administer an immunization or vaccine.

Caption, 88R bill history

Sources

Texas Senate · Filed Nov 20, 2024

02/03/2025 S Referred to Health & Human Services

Texas Legislature Online · Introduced

Data snapshot Oct 26, 2026 at 4:20 AM CDT. Grades, charges, quotes and corrections follow the published record.

Senate committee · Health & Human Services · Final status: Died in committee

Subjects

Occupational Regulation--Health Occupations

IMMUNIZATIONS

PHARMACIES & PHARMACISTS

PHARMACY, TEXAS STATE BOARD OF

Text

The text as introduced · 324 words

89R4550 DNC-F

By: Sparks
S.B. No. 398

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the delegation to a pharmacy technician of a

pharmacist's authority to administer an immunization or vaccine.

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

SECTION 1. Section 554.004(a), Occupations Code, is amended

to read as follows:

(a) The board shall specify conditions under which a

pharmacist may administer medication, including an immunization

and vaccination. The conditions must ensure that:

(1) a licensed health care provider authorized to

administer the medication is not reasonably available to administer

the medication;

(2) failure to administer the medication, other than

an immunization or vaccination, might result in a significant delay

or interruption of a critical phase of drug therapy;

(3) the pharmacist possesses the necessary skill,

education, and certification as specified by the board to

administer the medication;

(4) within a reasonable time after administering

medication, the pharmacist notifies the licensed health care

provider responsible for the patient's care that the medication was

administered;

(5) the pharmacist may not administer medication to a

patient at the patient's residence, except at a licensed nursing

home or hospital;

(6) the pharmacist administers an immunization or

vaccination under a physician's written protocol and meets the

standards established by the board; and

(7) the authority of a pharmacist to administer an

immunization or vaccination [ medication ] may [ not ] be delegated to

a registered pharmacy technician .

SECTION 2. As soon as practicable after the effective date

of this Act, the Texas State Board of Pharmacy shall adopt rules

necessary to implement Section 554.004(a), Occupations Code, as

amended by this Act.

SECTION 3. 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.