S.B. No. 952

ANATOMICAL GIFTS AND DONOR CARDS

Effective Date: September 1, 1997

AN ACT

relating to anatomical gifts and donor cards.

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

SECTION 1.  Sections 521.401, 521.402, and 521.403, Transportation Code, are amended to read as follows:

Sec. 521.401.  STATEMENT OF GIFT. (a)  A person who wishes to be an eye, tissue, or organ donor may execute a statement of gift.

(b)  The statement of gift may [shall] be shown by a card designed to be carried by the donor to evidence the donor's intentions with respect to organ, tissue, and eye donation. A donor card signed by the donor shall be given effect as if executed pursuant to Section 692.003(d), Health and Safety Code.

(c)  Donor cards shall be provided to the department by qualified organ or tissue procurement organizations or eye banks, as those terms are defined in Section 692.002, Health and Safety Code. The department shall provide a means to distribute donor cards to interested individuals in each office authorized to issue driver's licenses or personal identification certificates. The department and other appropriate state agencies, in cooperation with qualified organ, tissue, and eye bank organizations shall pursue the development of a combined statewide database of donors.

(d)  Effective September 1, 1997, a statement of gift on driver's licenses or personal identification certificates shall have no force and effect, provided, however, that an affirmative statement of gift on a [symbol placed on the face of the] person's driver's license or personal identification certificate executed prior to September 1, 1997, shall be conclusive evidence of a decedent's status as a donor and serve as consent for organ, tissue, and eye removal.

[(c)  A statement of gift must be executed each time the person applies for renewal, reinstatement, or replacement of the driver's license or personal identification certificate.

[(d)  A symbol of gift shown on the face of a driver's license or personal identification certificate complies with the requirements of Chapter 692, Health and Safety Code.]

Sec. 521.402.  [ALTERNATIVE EXECUTION OR] REVOCATION OF STATEMENT OF GIFT. (a)  To revoke an affirmative statement of gift on a person's [execute at a time other than on application or revoke a statement of gift for the issuance, renewal, reinstatement, or replacement of a] driver's license or personal identification certificate made prior to September 1, 1997, a person must apply to the department for an amendment to the license or certificate.

(b)  The fee for an amendment is the same as the fee for a duplicate license.

Sec. 521.403.  INFORMATION PROVIDED TO HOSPITAL. The donor card [driver's license or personal identification certificate] of a person who is involved in an accident or other trauma shall accompany the person to the hospital or other health care facility [if the person's license or certificate has a statement of gift symbolized on it]. The driver's license or personal identification certificate issued prior to September 1, 1997, indicating an affirmative statement of gift of a person who is involved in an accident or other trauma, shall accompany the person to the hospital or health care facility if the person does not have a donor card.

SECTION 2.  Section 692.002, Health and Safety Code, is amended by adding a new Subdivision (4) and renumbering existing Subdivisions (4) through (8) to read as follows:

(4)  "Donor card" means a card designed to be carried by a donor to evidence the donor's intentions with respect to organ, tissue, or eye donations.

(5)  "Eye bank" means a nonprofit corporation chartered under the laws of this state to obtain, store, and distribute donor eyes to be used by ophthalmologists for corneal transplants, research, or other medical purposes.

(6) [(5)]  "Hospital" means a hospital:

(A)  licensed, accredited, or approved under the laws of any state; or

(B)  operated by the federal government, a state government, or a political subdivision of a state government.

(7) [(6)]  "Part" includes an organ, tissue, eye, bone, artery, blood, other fluid, and other parts of a human body.

(8) [(7)]  "Physician" means a physician licensed or authorized to practice under the laws of any state.

(9) [(8)]  "Qualified organ or tissue procurement organization" means an organization that procures and distributes organs or tissues for transplantation, research, or other medical purposes and is:

(A)  affiliated with a university or hospital; or

(B)  registered to operate as a nonprofit organization in this state for the primary purpose of organ or tissue procurement.

SECTION 3.  Subsection (e), Section 692.003, Health and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:

(e)  A gift made under this section by a person 18 years of age or older, including a gift made under Section 521.401, Transportation Code [11B, Chapter 173, Acts of the 47th Legislature, Regular Session, 1941 (Article 6687b, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes)], shall be honored without obtaining the approval or consent of any other person.

SECTION 4.  Section 692.014, Health and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 692.014.  PROCEDURES. (a)  At or near the time of notification of death, if it is unclear whether the decedent is or is not a donor, the organ or tissue procurement organization or its designee shall ask the person authorized to make an anatomical gift on behalf of the decedent under Section 692.004, according to the priority established by that section, whether the decedent is or is not a donor. The inquiry shall be made in accordance with the protocol established under Section 692.013 and with the procedures established under Subchapter Q, Chapter 521, Transportation Code [Section 11B, Chapter 173, Acts of the 47th Legislature, Regular Session, 1941 (Article 6687b, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes)].

(b)  If the decedent is a donor 18 years of age or older, the decedent's anatomical gift made under Section 692.003, including a gift made under Section 521.401, Transportation Code [11B, Chapter 173, Acts of the 47th Legislature, Regular Session, 1941 (Article 6687b, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes)], shall be honored without obtaining the approval or consent of any other person.

(c)  A copy of the decedent's donor card or a decedent's driver's license or personal identification certificate with an affirmative statement of gift issued prior to September 1, 1997,[card with a statement of anatomical gift symbolized on it or a document executed in accordance with Section 692.003] is conclusive evidence of the decedent's status as a donor and serves as consent for the organ, [or] tissue, or eye removal.

(d)  If the decedent is not a declared donor, the organ or tissue procurement organization or its designee shall inform the person of the option to donate the decedent's organs, [and] tissues, and eyes according to the procedures established under this chapter and under Subchapter Q, Chapter 521, Transportation Code [Section 11B, Chapter 173, Acts of the 47th Legislature, Regular Session, 1941 (Article 6687b, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes)].

SECTION 5.  The Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas may continue to use its current supply of driver's licenses and personal identification cards; however, the department shall not place any information on the driver's licenses and personal identification cards pertaining to the person's status as an organ donor after September 1, 1997.

SECTION 6.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

SECTION 7.  The importance of this legislation and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an emergency and an imperative public necessity that the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.