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Senate Bill 213 |
Senate Author: Menéndez et al. |
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Effective: See below |
House Sponsor: Rodriguez, Justin |
Senate Bill 213 amends the Government Code to rename the ombudsman for children and youth in foster care as the ombudsman for the Department of Family and Protective Services. The bill, among other provisions, transfers the responsibility for appointing the ombudsman from the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission to the governor, expands the ombudsman's duties, creates the division of the ombudsman for children and youth in foster care within the office of the ombudsman, and sets out procedures for a child-placing agency responsible for a foster child to refer a dispute regarding the child's placement or permanency plan to the ombudsman. The bill takes effect September 1, 2017, but only if a specific appropriation for the bill's implementation is provided in a general appropriations act of the 85th legislature.