HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 19

46th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2004

INTRODUCED BY

Mimi Stewart

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO SURVEY HOSPITALS AND URGENT CARE FACILITIES TO GATHER DATA FROM FACILITIES PROVIDING EMERGENCY CARE TO SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS AND TO ADOPT RULES TO IMPLEMENT THE SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS EMERGENCY CARE ACT.

     WHEREAS, the Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Care Act, House Bill 119, was adopted by the first session of the forty-sixth legislature in 2003 and signed into law by the governor; and

     WHEREAS, those hospitals, including urgent care facilities, that treat survivors of sexual assault are required by the Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Care Act to provide medically and factually accurate and objective information to those survivors to inform them of the possible treatments for people who have been sexually assaulted; and

     WHEREAS, the Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Care Act also requires that people who provide emergency services to sexual assault survivors receive appropriate training so that they can better serve those patients; and

     WHEREAS, there is no tracking provided for in the Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Care Act to determine the success of the provisions of the act; and

     WHEREAS, the appropriate state agency to conduct such a survey and to collect data is the department of health;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the department of health be requested to conduct a survey of facilities providing emergency care to sexual assault survivors and to collect data on the number of sexual assault survivors treated by each facility and the number who have received emergency contraception; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department of health report its findings to the interim legislative health and human services committee no later than November 2004; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department of health adopt rules to implement the provisions of the Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Care Act; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that upon completion of the survey and its report to the legislative health and human services committee, the department of health submit copies of the survey and its findings to the legislative council service library; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of health.

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