TITLE: Relating to border health programs conducted by the Department of State Health Services in collaboration with Mexican and federal authorities.

SUMMARY: Relating to border health programs conducted by the Department of State Health Services in collaboration with Mexican and federal authorities.

FULL TEXT:
AN ACT relating to border health programs conducted by the Department of State Health Services in collaboration with Mexican and federal authorities. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. The heading to Subchapter F, Chapter 12, Health and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows: SUBCHAPTER F. [OFFICE OF] BORDER HEALTH SECTION 2. Subchapter F, Chapter 12, Health and Safety Code, is amended by adding Section 12.075 to read as follows: Sec. 12.075. BORDER HEALTH PROGRAMS WITH MEXICO. The department, in collaboration with the Office of State-Federal Relations and appropriate federal agencies, shall for counties located along the international border with Mexico: (1) increase collaboration between local, state, and federal public health agencies in this state and local, state, and federal public health agencies in Mexico; (2) expand vector-borne disease surveillance, testing, and insecticide resistance testing and collaborate with the appropriate Mexican authorities to expand that surveillance and testing in the Mexican states located along the Texas-Mexico border; (3) expand border infectious disease surveillance projects provided by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; (4) support sister-city binational health councils by establishing binational epidemiology and surveillance teams to exchange information between local governmental agencies in this state and in Mexico; (5) formalize public health surveillance, testing, information sharing, and public health mitigation strategies between local and state health departments, the United States, and the appropriate counterparts in Mexico by: (A) establishing and entering into a memorandum of understanding or other agreement; and (B) establishing appropriate protocols and procedures; and (6) participate in binational sister-city, state, and national conferences on strategies for increasing collaboration, communication, and protocol sharing between jurisdictions impacted by local and international public health concerns. SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.