Enrolled Bill Summary

            Senate Bill 967 amends the Health and Safety Code to require the Texas Department of Human Services to investigate a report it receives that an employee of any facility it licenses or an adult foster care provider contracting with the department has abused, neglected, or exploited a resident or consumer of a facility or misappropriated a resident's or consumer's property and give written notice of its findings if such abuse, neglect, or exploitation is found to have occurred. The act adds provisions relating to the employee's response to the department and right to request a hearing and to requirements the department must meet regarding notice and judicial review. The act requires the department to maintain an employee misconduct registry that is to be available to the public. The department is authorized to record information regarding abuse, neglect, or exploitation by an employee from an agency of another state or from the federal government in the registry. A facility is required to search the registry and the nurse aide registry maintained under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 before hiring an employee, is prohibited from employing a person listed in either registry, and is required to notify its employees about the registry.