A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT REQUIRING LOCAL SCHOOL BOARDS TO ADOPT POLICIES AUTHORIZING STUDENTS TO SELF‑ADMINISTER MEDICATION FOR ASTHMA OR ANAPHYLAXIS.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑47 is amended by adding the following new subdivision to read:
"(45)	To Adopt Policies Authorizing Students to Self‑Administer Medication for Asthma or Anaphylaxis. – Each local board of education shall adopt a policy for authorizing students to self‑administer medication for asthma or anaphylaxis while at school, at school‑sponsored activities, and in transit to or from school or school‑sponsored activities. The policy shall specify who is responsible for granting authorization and shall provide that authorization to self‑administer medication for asthma or anaphylaxis will be granted to any student who meets all of the following requirements:
a.	The student's parent or guardian must submit a written treatment plan for managing asthma or anaphylaxis. The plan must be prepared by a health care provider authorized to prescribe the medication under State law, and must state:
1.	That the student has asthma or anaphylaxis;
2.	That self‑administration of asthma or anaphylaxis medication is part of the student's treatment plan;
3.	That the student has been instructed in, and has demonstrated to the health care provider, the skills necessary to self‑administer medication for asthma or anaphylaxis; and
4.	The name or type of medication that the student may self‑administer while in school, at school‑sponsored activities, or in transit to or from school or school‑sponsored activities.
b.	The student's parent or guardian must submit to the school written permission for the student to self‑administer the medication while in school at school‑sponsored activities, or while in transit from school or school‑sponsored activities.
c.	If the student's school is served by a school nurse, the student must demonstrate to the school nurse that the student has the skills necessary to self‑administer medication for asthma or anaphylaxis.
Each school shall maintain a student's completed documents on file in a location that is easily accessible in the event of an asthma or anaphylaxis emergency. A student may provide back‑up medication to be maintained by the school for use if the student has an asthma or anaphylaxis emergency. If a student provides back‑up medication, the school shall maintain the medication in a location to which the student has immediate access in the event of asthma or anaphylaxis emergency that occurs while the student is in school.
A local board of education may authorize its School Health Advisory Council to develop a comprehensive student asthma and anaphylaxis management plan that incorporates the policy authorizing students to self‑administer the medication.
Any public school employee who is responsible for any act under a local board's policy regarding self‑administration of asthma or anaphylaxis medication shall not be liable in civil damages for any act or omission under the policy unless the act or omission amounts to gross negligence, wanton misconduct, or intentional wrongdoing. Any person serving in a voluntary position at the request of or with the permission or consent of the board of education or its designee who has been given the authority by the board of education or its designee to act under a local board's policy regarding self‑administration of asthma or anaphylaxis medication shall not be liable in civil damages for any act or omission under the policy unless the act or omission amounts to gross negligence, wanton misconduct, or intentional wrongdoing.
For purposes of this subdivision, the term "medication" includes an inhaled bronchodilator or self‑injected epinephrine."
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with the 2005‑2006 school year.