85R14341 SCL-F
	By: Sheffield	H.B. No. 3577

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to the establishment of the emergency medical services
	educational program.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Chapter 773, Health and Safety Code, is amended
	by adding Subchapter I to read as follows:
	SUBCHAPTER I.  EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM
	Sec. 773.251.  DEFINITIONS.  In this subchapter:
	(1)  "Educational curriculum" means a
	distance-learning emergency medical services curriculum that
	provides remote courses of instruction and training to emergency
	medical services personnel who serve a rural area.
	(2)  "Postsecondary educational institution" means any
	institution, public or private, which provides courses of
	instruction beyond that offered in secondary schools.
	(3)  "Program" means the emergency medical services
	educational program established under this subchapter.
	Sec. 773.252.  ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.  The department
	shall establish the emergency medical services educational program
	to provide an educational curriculum for training rural emergency
	medical services personnel.
	Sec. 773.253.  RULES.  (a)  The executive commissioner shall
	adopt rules necessary to implement this subchapter, including rules
	for:
	(1)  establishing requirements for the educational
	curriculum; and
	(2)  establishing requirements for a postsecondary
	educational institution that develops and offers the educational
	curriculum.
	(b)  The rules must require that:
	(1)  a postsecondary educational institution applying
	to offer the educational curriculum demonstrate the qualifications
	necessary to develop and offer the educational curriculum; and
	(2)  the educational curriculum provide to rural
	emergency medical services personnel the remote instructional
	courses and training necessary for the personnel to achieve
	department certification under Subchapter C.
	Sec. 773.254.  EDUCATIONAL CURRICULUM.  (a)  A postsecondary
	educational institution may apply to the department in the form and
	manner provided by department rule to develop and offer the
	educational curriculum under this subchapter.
	(b)  The department may contract with not more than three
	qualified postsecondary educational institutions to develop and
	offer the educational curriculum under this subchapter.
	Sec. 773.255.  ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT.  The department may
	provide administrative support to the program.
	Sec. 773.256.  EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES EDUCATIONAL
	ACCOUNT. (a) In this section, "account" means the emergency
	medical services educational account established under this
	section.
	(b)  The emergency medical services educational account is
	established as a dedicated account in the general revenue fund.
	(c)  The account is composed of:
	(1)  money deposited to the credit of the account under
	Section 542.4031, Transportation Code; and
	(2)  notwithstanding Section 404.071, Government Code,
	interest earned on the investment of money in the account and
	depository interest allocable to the account.
	(d)  Money in the account may be appropriated to the
	department only for the purposes described by Subsection (e).
	(e)  The commissioner may use the money appropriated from the
	account to provide funding to a postsecondary educational
	institution offering the educational curriculum under this
	subchapter.
	SECTION 2.  Section 542.4031(g), Transportation Code, is
	amended to read as follows:
	(g)  Of the money received by the comptroller under this
	section, the comptroller shall deposit:
	(1)  50.5 [67] percent to the credit of the undedicated
	portion of the general revenue fund; [and]
	(2)  33 percent to the credit of the designated trauma
	facility and emergency medical services account under Section
	780.003, Health and Safety Code; and
	(3)  16.5 percent to the credit of the emergency
	medical services educational account under Section 773.256, Health
	and Safety Code.
	SECTION 3.  Section 542.4031(g), Transportation Code, as
	amended by this Act, applies only to the distribution of revenue
	collected on or after the effective date of this Act. The
	distribution of revenue collected before the effective date of this
	Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the revenue was
	collected, and that law is continued in effect for the purpose of
	the distribution of that revenue.
	SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.