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Senate Bill 33 |
Senate Author: Zaffirini |
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Effective: 5-25-13 |
House Sponsor: Naishtat |
Senate Bill 33 amends the Health and Safety Code to require a state supported living center to permit a resident or the resident's guardian or legal representative to monitor the resident's room through the use of electronic monitoring devices. The bill prohibits a center from refusing to admit an individual to residency in the center and from removing a resident from the center because of a request to conduct authorized electronic monitoring, prohibits a center from removing a resident from the center because covert electronic monitoring is being conducted by or on behalf of a resident, and establishes the circumstances under which the placement and use of electronic monitoring equipment is considered to be covert. The bill sets out provisions regarding who may request electronic monitoring, who may request forms and other information relating to electronic monitoring required to be provided to a resident on admission to the center, and required consent of other residents of a room for which electronic monitoring is requested or in which electronic monitoring is being conducted and limitations on which such consent may be conditioned.
Senate Bill 33 sets out certain rights and responsibilities of both the center and a resident relating to electronic monitoring, including requirements regarding notice of electronic monitoring at the entrance of the center and outside a resident's room, the manner in which electronic monitoring equipment may be installed and electronic monitoring may be conducted, and payment for and maintenance of electronic monitoring equipment. The bill establishes provisions relating to criminal and civil liability relating to electronic monitoring, requirements for reporting abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a resident, and the use of a tape or recording by a court or an administrative agency and the circumstances under which a tape or recording may be admitted into evidence. The bill authorizes the imposition of appropriate sanctions to enforce its provisions and makes it a Class B misdemeanor to interfere with an electronic monitoring device installed in a resident's room or a tape or audio recording made by such a device.