HBA-MSH H.B. 3312 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3312 By: Dunnam Public Safety 3/28/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, a 9-1-1 system must be capable of transmitting requests for fire-fighting, law enforcement, ambulance, and medical services to the proper public safety agency that provides the requested service. In many cases, the staff of a 9-1-1 center is able to provide direction and advice over the phone during an emergency before emergency services arrive on the scene of the emergency. However, some 9-1-1 centers do not have personnel trained in providing pre-arrival instructions. House Bill 3312 creates state emergency medical dispatch resource centers to provide pre-arrival instructions to 9-1-1 callers. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 3312 amends the Health and Safety Code to require the Commission on State Emergency Communications (commission) and the Texas Department of Health (TDH) to jointly establish one or more state emergency medical dispatch resource centers (center). The center will provide 24-hour pre-arrival instructions that may be accessed by public safety answering points in areas of the state in which the public safety answering point is not adequately staffed to provide life-saving and other emergency medical instructions to persons who need guidance while awaiting the arrival of emergency medical personnel. The bill authorizes an emergency communication district (district) to choose whether to participate in receiving the services offered by a center without regard to whether the district is participating in the applicable regional plan. The bill requires each public safety answering point in an area served by a participating district to have direct telephone access to an emergency medical dispatch center and for it to be accessible through all 9-1-1 services in the regions. The bill requires TDH to operate each center or to contract out for its operation and to ensure that each center is adequately staffed. The bill specifies that the liability provisions for 9-1-1 service apply to an emergency medical dispatch resource center. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.