Enrolled Bill Summary

            Senate Bill 196 amends the Health and Safety Code to require the Texas Department of Human Services to define criteria on which it may deny or revoke an initial license for an intermediate care facility for the mentally retarded. The act sets out requirements for notice relating to violations found by the department or its representative in an inspection, survey, or investigation of a facility, for hearings on the violations, and for assessment and payment of administrative penalties.

            The act sets a minimum administrative penalty for a facility with fewer than 60 beds of not less than $100 or more than $1,000, and for a facility with 60 beds or more of not less than $100 or more than $5,000, for each violation. It establishes that the total amount of the penalty assessed for a violation continuing or occurring on separate days may not exceed $5,000 for a facility with fewer than 60 beds or $25,000 for a facility with 60 beds or more. The act provides facilities with a period of not less than 45 days to make corrections before incurring a penalty, unless the department determines that the violation has resulted in serious harm to or the death of a resident or constitutes a serious threat to the health and safety of a resident. It authorizes the department to require a person subject to a penalty to use, under the supervision of the department, all or part of the amount to ameliorate the violation or improve certain services and prohibits the department from assessing more than one monetary penalty for a violation arising out of the same act or failure to act.