House Education Committee straw-polls to advance amendment to H.209 to include intranasal epinephrine in schools

The House Education Committee on May 22, 2025, straw-polled to concur with Senate changes to H.209 and to offer a further amendment that would expand the statute to allow schools to keep FDA‑approved intranasal epinephrine delivery systems in a stock supply, Katie McGlenn of the Office of Legislative Council said.

The change matters because current law refers to epinephrine auto‑injectors and school stock supplies; the proposed language would refer more broadly to “epinephrine” and thus encompass multiple FDA‑approved single‑dose delivery systems, including the intranasal formulation the FDA recently approved, McGlenn said.

McGlenn told the committee the version they reviewed is a compromise developed by four groups — the state health department, the Agency of Education, the Office of Professional Regulation and the Association of School Nurses — to address concerns raised after the bill left the House. "The genesis of this is that the 4 groups got together, the health department, AOE, OPR, and the school nurse association. And this language is compromised language that the 4 groups worked on," she said. She walked members through edits that do the following: replace repeated references to method (for example, "epinephrine auto injector") with a single definition of "epinephrine" that covers any U.S. Food and Drug Administration‑approved single‑dose delivery system; clarify the definition of "designated personnel" to mean a school employee, agent or volunteer who has completed training required by state board policy and who is authorized by a school administrator or delegated by a school nurse; add "associate school nurse" to the school nurse definition; and add language recognizing registered nurses certified through the Office of Professional Regulation who are contracted to perform school nurse duties.

The draft also preserves and clarifies existing requirements for standing orders and post‑administration care: "The health care professional shall issue to the school a standing order for the use of epinephrine prescribed in this section, including protocols for recognizing ... administering epinephrine ... caring for an individual after administering epinephrine, including contacting emergency services personnel and documenting the incident and disposing of used and expired epinephrine," McGlenn read from the draft to explain the statutory protocol language.

Committee members discussed process steps after the review. McGlenn said the compromise language arrived shortly before third reading in the Senate and had not been offered on the Senate floor. The committee agreed to have McGlenn draft the amendment as a House Education Committee amendment, to list all committee members as sponsors with Representative Harpal as the lead sponsor, and to have the amendment delivered to the clerk's office by the reporter (the member who will carry the amendment). McGlenn said she would send the draft and copy Annie for posting on the committee website. Representative Harpal was identified as the lead sponsor; Representative Hartfield was named as the member to take the amendment to the clerk's office.

The committee conducted a straw poll to register support for concurring with the Senate changes and for offering the further amendment; the chair called for hands and moved to the next item after members showed support. The committee noted that custody of H.209 was "on notice" and not yet returned to the House Education Committee for formal action.

What the amendment would change in practice

- Broader statutory definition: The draft replaces repeated references to specific delivery mechanisms with a single definition of "epinephrine" that would include any single‑dose, premeasured, FDA‑approved delivery system. The stated intent is to avoid future statutory fixes if additional delivery mechanisms are approved by the FDA.

- Personnel and training: "Designated personnel" must complete the training required by state board policy; school administrators may authorize a school nurse or appropriately trained designated personnel to maintain and administer stock epinephrine under a provider standing order. The draft adds "associate school nurse" and language recognizing contracted registered nurses certified through OPR to account for independent schools that may not employ nurses who meet existing rules.

- Liability: The draft includes immunity language protecting a designated personnel, a school nurse and a health care professional prescribing epinephrine to a school from civil or criminal liability when acting under the statute.

Next steps

Katie McGlenn will draft the amendment, circulate it to committee members, and CC Annie for the website. Committee members agreed to list all members as sponsors, with Representative Harpal as lead sponsor and Representative Hartfield identified to deliver the amendment to the clerk's office. The straw poll registered committee support; no roll‑call vote was taken in committee.

(Reporting note: committee remarks and the language excerpts above are drawn from the committee meeting on May 22, 2025, and from the Office of Legislative Council's summary of the proposed amendment.)