By:  Wilson                                           H.B. No. 1768
       73R5618 GWK-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to an opportunity for persons convicted of certain
    1-3  offenses to remove the bar to employment in facilities serving the
    1-4  elderly or disabled.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Chapter 106, Human Resources Code, is amended by
    1-7  adding Section 106.0071 to read as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 106.0071.  NOTICE AND OPPORTUNITY TO APPEAR.  (a)  The
    1-9  Texas Board of Human Services and the Texas Board of Health shall
   1-10  each adopt rules providing for notice of the results of a criminal
   1-11  conviction check to an employee or applicant for employment who is
   1-12  covered by this chapter.  The rules must provide for an opportunity
   1-13  for that person to appear and give information relating to the
   1-14  accuracy of the results.
   1-15        (b)  The Texas Board of Human Services and the Texas Board of
   1-16  Health shall each adopt rules providing an employee or applicant
   1-17  for employment who is barred from employment under this chapter an
   1-18  opportunity to appear and provide:
   1-19              (1)  information relating to whether the employee or
   1-20  applicant had been the victim of acts of family violence committed
   1-21  by the person against whom the employee or applicant was convicted
   1-22  of committing the offense; and
   1-23              (2)  relevant expert testimony regarding the condition
   1-24  of the mind of the employee or applicant at the time of the
    2-1  offense, including those relevant facts and circumstances relating
    2-2  to family violence that are the basis of the expert's opinion.
    2-3        (c)  The Texas Board of Human Services or the Texas Board of
    2-4  Health, on the basis of information and testimony provided under
    2-5  Subsection (b), may issue to the employee or applicant a
    2-6  certificate removing the bar on employment otherwise imposed by
    2-7  Section 106.008(a).
    2-8        (d)  For the purposes of Subsection (b) and (c), "family
    2-9  violence" has the meaning assigned by Section 71.01, Family Code.
   2-10        SECTION 2.  Section 106.008, Human Resources Code, is amended
   2-11  by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (d) to read as
   2-12  follows:
   2-13        (a)  Except as provided by Subsections (b), (c), and (d) <and
   2-14  (c) of this section>, a facility may not hire a person covered by
   2-15  this chapter or shall immediately terminate a person's employment
   2-16  if the results of the criminal conviction check reveal that the
   2-17  person has been convicted of an offense listed under Section
   2-18  106.003(b) <of this code>.
   2-19        (d)  A facility may employ or continue employing a person
   2-20  convicted of a misdemeanor or felony classified as an offense
   2-21  against a person if the person presents to the facility a
   2-22  certificate removing the bar to employment issued by the Texas
   2-23  Board of Human Services or the Texas Board of Health under Section
   2-24  106.0071(c).
   2-25        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-26  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-27  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-1  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-2  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    3-3  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    3-4  passage, and it is so enacted.