By: Schechter H.B. No. 847
73R1602 CLG-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to access to criminal history information records by the
1-3 Department of Protective and Regulatory Services.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 22.006(a), Human Resources Code, is
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 (a) The department is entitled to obtain criminal history
1-8 information records maintained by the Department of Public Safety,
1-9 the Federal Bureau of Investigation identification division, or
1-10 another law enforcement agency to investigate:
1-11 (1) owners and employees of, and applicants for
1-12 employment at, a child-care facility licensed, registered, or
1-13 certified or applying for a license, registration, or certification
1-14 under Chapter 42 of this code;
1-15 (2) residents of a registered family home, excluding
1-16 children in the home's care and the parents of the children;
1-17 (3) a person providing or applying to provide adoptive
1-18 or foster care for children in the care of the department and other
1-19 adults living with that person in the residence in which the child
1-20 will reside;
1-21 (4) a department employee who is engaged in the direct
1-22 delivery of protective services to children, elderly persons, or
1-23 persons with a disability on the date the department implements
1-24 this section;
2-1 (5) a person applying for a position with the
2-2 department, the duties of which include direct delivery of
2-3 protective services to children, elderly persons, or persons with a
2-4 disability;
2-5 (6) a volunteer or person applying as a volunteer with
2-6 a local affiliate in this state of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of
2-7 America or of a program known as "I Have a Dream/Houston";
2-8 (7) a person employed by a business entity which
2-9 provides in-home respite care of children with temporary illnesses;
2-10 (8) a person employed by a home health agency; <or>
2-11 (9) a volunteer or person applying as a volunteer with
2-12 an organization which provides court-appointed special advocates
2-13 for abused or neglected children;
2-14 (10) a person who is the subject of a report the
2-15 department receives alleging that the person has abused or
2-16 neglected a child; or
2-17 (11) a relative providing or applying to provide
2-18 in-home care for a child in the care of the department and other
2-19 adults living with that relative in the residence in which the
2-20 child will reside.
2-21 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
2-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-25 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-26 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-27 passage, and it is so enacted.