TITLE: Relating to the installation of bollards or another safety barrier adjacent to certain hospital emergency rooms.

SUMMARY: Relating to the installation of bollards or another safety barrier adjacent to certain hospital emergency rooms.

FULL TEXT:
AN ACT relating to the installation of bollards or another safety barrier adjacent to certain hospital emergency rooms. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. The heading to Subchapter B, Chapter 311, Health and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows: SUBCHAPTER B. EMERGENCY SERVICES;EMERGENCY ROOMS SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 311, Health and Safety Code, is amended by adding Section 311.025 to read as follows: Sec. 311.025. EMERGENCY ROOM CRASH BARRIERS REQUIRED AT CERTAIN HOSPITALS. (a) In this section, "hospital" means a hospital licensed under Chapter 241, except that the term does not include a hospital that: (1) is located in a county with a population of 68,750 or less; or (2) has been designated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as a critical access hospital, rural referral center, or sole community hospital and: (A) is not located in a metropolitan statistical area; or (B) if the hospital has 100 or fewer beds, is located in a metropolitan statistical area. (b) If a hospital maintains an emergency room located near an area with vehicular traffic, the hospital shall install and maintain crash-rated bollards or another similar safety barrier adjacent to the emergency room in a manner likely to prevent a motor vehicle from crashing into the emergency room. (c) The executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission shall adopt rules as necessary to implement this section. SECTION 3. (a) As soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act but not later than December 1, 2025, the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission shall adopt rules as required by Section 311.025(c), Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act. (b) A hospital to which Section 311.025, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, applies: (1) is not required to comply with the requirements of that section until January 1, 2026; and (2) is not required to reinstall or install additional bollards or safety barriers if the hospital has, before the effective date of this Act, installed crash-rated bollards or another similar safety barrier adjacent to the hospital's emergency room. SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.