By: Johnson of Harris, Lopez, Frank H.B. No. 700

(Senate Sponsor - Zaffirini)

(In the Senate - Received from the House May 10, 2021; May 11, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on Health & Human Services; May 21, 2021, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 21, 2021, sent to printer.) Click here to see the committee vote

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the eligibility of foster children to receive college credit for completing the Preparation for Adult Living Program.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 264.121(a-6), Family Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a-6) The department, in coordination with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board [stakeholders], shall establish a work group to develop a plan to ensure that foster youth who complete [standardize] the standardized curriculum for the Preparation for Adult Living Program are eligible to receive college credit for completing the program. The work group must include representatives from urban and rural institutions of higher education, as defined by Section 61.003, Education Code. In developing its evidence-based recommendations, the work group shall consider the feasibility of implementing each recommendation, a foster youth's access to the Preparation for Adult Living Program, and the average length of time a foster youth will remain in a placement [that ensures that youth 14 years of age or older enrolled in the program receive relevant and age-appropriate information and training]. The department shall report the plan to the legislature not later than November [December] 1, 2022 [2018]. This subsection expires September 1, 2023.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.

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