73R9886 E
          By Hilderbran                                         H.B. No. 2256
          Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2256:
          By Hilderbran                                     C.S.H.B. No. 2256
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the provision of certain services to elderly persons by
    1-3  the Texas Department on Aging and the Texas Department of Human
    1-4  Services.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 101, Human Resources Code,
    1-7  is amended by adding Section 101.0255 to read as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 101.0255.  SERVICE STANDARDS AND AGREEMENTS.  (a)  The
    1-9  department and the Texas Department of Human Services, with the
   1-10  approval of the Health and Human Services Commission, shall work to
   1-11  ensure consistency in service standards used by the respective
   1-12  agency in the provision of the same or substantially similar
   1-13  services under a community program on aging under Subchapter III,
   1-14  Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. Section 3001 et seq.), or
   1-15  the Options for Independent Living program and a community care
   1-16  program of the Texas Department of Human Services.
   1-17        (b)  Not later than January 1, 1994, the department and the
   1-18  Texas Department of Human Services, in accordance with federal law,
   1-19  including the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. Section 3001
   1-20  et seq.), shall enter into an agreement that allows an area agency
   1-21  on aging to:
   1-22              (1)  jointly contract with a service provider that is
   1-23  under contract with the Texas Department of Human Services to
    2-1  provide services under a community care program; and
    2-2              (2)  use the billing and audit procedures of the Texas
    2-3  Department of Human Services to eliminate unnecessary duplication
    2-4  and to secure reduced rates through economies of scale.
    2-5        SECTION 2.  Section 101.044(d), Human Resources Code, is
    2-6  amended to read as follows:
    2-7        (d)  An area agency on aging may not directly provide
    2-8  homemaker, home health, residential repair, respite, meal delivery,
    2-9  or transportation service unless the area agency:
   2-10              (1)  receives no response to a request for proposals
   2-11  that meets department standards; and
   2-12              (2)  has exhausted all other procurement options
   2-13  available under department rules.
   2-14        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   2-15        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-16  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-17  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-18  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-19  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.