BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 4328

By: Campos

Urban Affairs

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Many individuals experiencing homelessness can go days or weeks without a shower due to the lack of access to things like soap and running water. As such, this population is among those at highest risk for developing hygiene-related illnesses. Daily hygiene habits play a critical role in not only keeping an individual clean but also preventing the spread of preventable diseases from person to person and creating wider public health concerns. C.S.H.B. 4328 seeks to address this issue and protect the public health by requiring a municipality with a population of 500,000 or more to provide to individuals experiencing homelessness who are residing in the municipality access to mobile showers in numbers sufficient to allow daily shower access by each homeless individual residing in the municipality.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 4328 amends the Local Government Code to require a municipality with a population of 500,000 or more to provide to homeless individuals residing in the municipality access to mobile showers. The municipality must make available a sufficient number of showers to allow daily shower access by each homeless individual residing in the municipality and must ensure that the access is sufficient to address the hygienic needs of and the prevention of hygiene-related illnesses in the municipality's homeless population. The bill requires the municipality to use all available federal money, including money provided under the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, that is available for implementing that requirement.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2021.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 4328 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute raises the population threshold that triggers the requirement to provide mobile shower access from 250,000 to 500,000.

The substitute includes a provision not in the original requiring an applicable municipality to use all available federal money, including money provided under the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, that is available for implementing that requirement.