Illinois General Assembly - Bill Status for HB4274

Amends the School Code. Provides that a school nurse or other designated person employed by a school district shall remove a tick from a student in accordance with guidelines issued by the Department of Public Health. After the tick has been removed, requires (i) the school nurse or other designated person to notify the parent or guardian of the student (and sets forth what the notice must state), (ii) the school to provide the parent or guardian with an information sheet from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Department of Public Health regarding the signs and symptoms of Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever and testing labs for ticks, and (iii) the school to preserve the tick for 72 hours so that the parent or guardian may send the tick to a lab for testing and provide information to the parent or guardian on how to send the tick to a lab for testing (but allows the parent or guardian to give the school permission to dispose of the tick before the 72-hour time period has expired). Provides that the Department of Public Health shall issue guidelines on how to remove a tick, publish those guidelines on the Department of Public Health's Internet website, and, in consultation with the State Board of Education, provide the guidelines to school districts. Provides that a school district and its employees and agents shall incur no liability, except for willful or wanton conduct, as a result of any injury arising from the removal of a tick if the removal of the tick followed the guidelines issued by the Department of Public Health. Effective July 1, 2024.

Replaces everything after the enacting clause. Amends the Department of Public Health Powers and Duties Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Requires the Department of Public Health to do all of the following no later than July 1, 2025: (1) issue guidelines on how to remove and safely store a tick; (2) publish the guidelines issued and a model form on the Department's website; (3) provide public testing lab information to schools; (4) issue a model form that schools shall send to the parents or guardians of students who have been identified as having been bitten by a tick; and (5) make available to schools, upon request and free of charge, tick removal kits consisting of tweezers, bandages, a sealable plastic bag, an alcohol wipe, repellent wipes, an information card, and a tick identification card. Specifies requirements for the form. Amends the School Code. Requires, before the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year, a school board to establish procedures on tick removal consistent with the guidelines developed by the Department of Public Health. Includes provisions relating to preserving the tick for possible testing by the parent or guardian and school district immunity for tick removal.

×