By Hilderbran H.B. No. 2256
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the coordination of delivery of similar state agency
1-3 programs.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 101.025 of Title 6. SERVICES FOR THE
1-6 ELDERLY, Chapter 101. Texas Department on Aging, shall be amended
1-7 to read as follows:
1-8 101.025. Cooperation With Federal and State Agencies.
1-9 (a) The department is the state agency designated to handle
1-10 federal programs relating to the aging that require action within
1-11 the state and that are not the specific responsibility of another
1-12 state agency under federal or state law.
1-13 (b) The department is not intended to supplant or to take
1-14 over from the counties and municipalities of this state or from
1-15 other state agencies or facilities any of the specific
1-16 responsibilities that they hold. The Department shall cooperate
1-17 with federal and state agencies, counties, and municipalities and
1-18 private agencies or facilities in the state in accomplishing the
1-19 purposes of this chapter.
1-20 (c) Where services under Title III and Options for
1-21 Independent Living are substantially equivalent to those provided
1-22 by the Texas Department of Human Services Community Care Programs,
1-23 the Department on Aging shall adopt the same service standards, and
2-1 enter into an agreement with the Texas Department of Human Services
2-2 allowing area agencies on aging to:
2-3 (1) jointly contract with the Texas Department of Human
2-4 Services and service providers, and
2-5 (2) utilize the Texas Department of Human Services billing
2-6 and audit procedures, to eliminate unnecessary duplication and
2-7 recognize reduced rates through economies of scale.
2-8 SECTION 2. Sec. 101.044., Chapter 101, Subchapter C of Title
2-9 6 Services for the Elderly is amended to read as follows:
2-10 SUBCHAPTER C. OPTIONS FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING
2-11 101.044. Provision of Services
2-12 (a) Support services shall include:
2-13 (1) case management;
2-14 (2) homemaking assistance, including personal care;
2-15 (3) residential repair;
2-16 (4) benefits counseling;
2-17 (5) respite care;
2-18 (6) emergency response;
2-19 (7) education and training for caregivers;
2-20 (8) home-delivered meals; and
2-21 (9) transportation
2-22 (b) A case manager shall conduct an individual assessment of
2-23 an elderly person's needs and shall, in consultation with the
2-24 elderly person and the elderly person's family, create a plan of
2-25 care that specifies the type, amount, frequency, and duration of
3-1 support services the elderly person needs.
3-2 (c) A plan of care must coordinate the available public and
3-3 private services and resources that are most appropriate to meet
3-4 the elderly person's needs.
3-5 (d) An area agency on aging may not directly provide
3-6 <homemaker, home health,> homemaking assistance, residential
3-7 repair, respite, meal delivery, emergency response, or
3-8 transportation service unless the area agency receives no response
3-9 to a request for proposals that meets department standards and can
3-10 demonstrate that services cannot be provided through a joint
3-11 contract with Texas Department of Human Services as provided for in
3-12 Section 101.025(c).
3-13 SECTION 3. These amendments become effective September 1,
3-14 1993. The agreement between Texas Department on Aging and Texas
3-15 Department of Human Services must be completed and implemented no
3-16 later than January 1, 1994.
3-17 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-18 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-19 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-20 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-21 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.