87R12590 TYPED

By: Noble H.B. No. 2532

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to investigating and responding to complaints filed against the Department of Family and Protective Services.

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

SECTION 1. Section 40.0041, Human Resources Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 40.0041. COMPLAINT PROCESS. (a) Complaints against the Department of Family and Protective services by members of the public, consumers, department employees, and service recipients in connection with any investigation or action taken by the department shall be received and investigated by the Health and Human Services Commission Office of Inspector General. The executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission, in consultation with the office of the inspector general and the commissioner of the Department of Family and Protective Services, by rule shall develop and implement a uniform process for receiving and resolving complaints against the department throughout the state. The process shall include:

(1) statewide procedures through which the public, consumers, department employees, and service recipients are informed:

(A) of the right to make a complaint against the department, including the mailing addresses and telephone numbers of appropriate departmentoffice of inspector general personnel responsible for receiving complaints and providing related assistance; and

(B) of the department'soffice's procedures for resolving a complaint, including the right to appeal a decision made at the local level;

(2) development and statewide distribution of a form or telephone system that may be used to make a complaint;

(3) a requirement that the departmentoffice of inspector general provide information by mail or telephone regarding the department's procedures for investigating and resolving a complaint to each person who makes a complaint; and

(4) a requirement that the departmentoffice of inspector general provide status information via phone, email, or other written communication at least quarterly to a person with a pending complaint against the department, unless the information would jeopardize an undercover investigation.

(a-1) Any of the functions in Section (a) previously handled by the department's Office of Consumer Relations or other entity housed within the department shall be fully transferred to the Health and Human Services Commission's office of inspector general. Within 3 months after the effective date of this Act, the commissioner of the Department of Family and Protective Services shall transfer all department funds and resources, including any and all applicable information technology, allocated for performing the duties described in Section (a) to the Health and Human Services Commission Office of Inspector General. The commissioner of the Department of Family and Protective Services, in consultation with the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission and office of inspector general, shall adopt any rules necessary for achieving this purpose.

(b) In addition to other appropriate methods, the department may provide the information specified by Subsection (a)(1):

(1) on each registration form, application, or written contract for services of a person regulated by the department;

(2) on a sign prominently displayed in the place of business of each person regulated by the department; or

(3) in a bill for service provided by a person regulated by the department.

(c) In performing the functions described in Section (a), the office of the inspector general shall have the authority to:

(1) make recommendations for corrective and remedial actions to be taken by the department in connection with individual complaints and enforce compliance with those recommendations;

(2) audit the department in connection with a complaint investigation;

(3) obtain any and all department data necessary for completing an investigation; and

(4) open any investigation it deems necessary for ensuring department or agency compliance with law, procedure, or policy.

(c-1) the department shall fully cooperate with any investigation and provide data or other information requested by the office of inspector general in connection with an investigation within 14 business days of receipt of the request.

(cd) The departmentoffice of inspector general shall keep an information file about each complaint made against the department that the departmentoffice has authority to resolve.

(de) The executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission, in consultation with the inspector general and the commissioner of the Department of Family and Protective Services, shall develop a consistent, statewide process for addressing an appeal by a person dissatisfied with the resolution of a complaint at the regional level. The process shall include an opportunity for appeal of a complaint without the participation of the department's ombudsman office.

(ef) The departmentoffice of inspector general shall develop and maintain a centralized tracking system to gather information concerning all complaints made against the department throughout the state. The departmentoffice of inspector general shall require its personnel to provide information regarding each complaint for inclusion in records maintained under the tracking system at the department'sHealth and Human Services Commission's state headquarters, regardless of the location or level at which the complaint is initiated or resolved. The department shall require at least the following minimum information toshall be maintained for each complaint:

(1) the date the complaint is received;

(2) the name of the person making the complaint;

(3) the subject matter of the complaint;

(4) a record of all persons contacted by the departmentoffice of inspector general in relation to the complaint;

(5) a summary of the results of the review or investigation of the complaint; and

(6) for each complaint determined by the department office of inspector general to require no corrective action, an explanation of the reason that the complaint was closed without action.

(fg) The departmentoffice of inspector general shall periodically prepare and deliver reports to the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission,and the commissioner of the Department of Family and Protective Services, the Office of the Governor, and the Chairs of the House Human Services Committee and Senate Health and Human Services Committee regarding the number, type, and resolution of complaints made in the state against the department.

(gh) The department shall cooperate with the ombudsman for children and youth in foster care to create consequences, based on the circumstances of the complaint and the severity of the retaliation, for any person who is found to have retaliated against a child or youth in the conservatorship of the department because of a complaint made to the ombudsman.

(hi) The executive commissioner shall adopt rules requiring all residential child-care facilities in which children and youth in the conservatorship of the department are placed to display information about the ombudsman for children and youth in foster care and the process for filing a complaint with the ombudsman in a location that is easily accessible and offers maximum privacy to the children and youth residing at the facility.

SECTION 2. Section 531.102, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 531.102. OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL. (a) The commission's office of inspector general is responsible for the prevention, detection, audit, inspection, review, and investigation of fraud, waste, and abuse in the provision and delivery of all health and human services in the state, including services through any state-administered health or human services program that is wholly or partly federally funded or services provided by the Department of Family and Protective Services, and the enforcement of state law relating to the provision of those services. The commission's office of inspector general shall also be responsible for receiving, investigating, and responding to complaints filed by members of the public, consumers, department employees, and service recipients against the Department of Family and Protective Services in accordance with Section 40.0041, Human Resources Code. The commission may obtain any information or technology necessary to enable the office to meet its responsibilities under this subchapter or other law.