By: Brady H.B. No. 2777
73R3566 CBH-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the emergency suspension of a license to operate a
1-3 child care facility.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 42.073, Human Resources Code, is amended
1-6 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 42.073. EMERGENCY SUSPENSION <CLOSING A FACILITY>.
1-8 (a) The division may temporarily suspend a license <close the
1-9 facility and place the children attending the facility in another
1-10 facility> if the division finds violations of this chapter or
1-11 violations of the department's rules and standards that create an
1-12 immediate danger for children.
1-13 (b) A division representative who finds conditions described
1-14 in Subsection (a) of this section shall immediately notify the
1-15 director and request an immediate inspection of the facility by the
1-16 director or the director's designee.
1-17 (c) The division shall report to the governor and the
1-18 executive director <commissioner> of the department when a
1-19 state-operated facility is found in violation of this chapter or
1-20 the department's rules and standards and the violation threatens
1-21 serious harm to the children in the facility.
1-22 (d) Temporary suspension of a license <Closing a facility>
1-23 under this section is an emergency measure. The division shall
1-24 provide to the license holder notice of the temporary suspension
2-1 that includes the effective date of the suspension and a statement
2-2 that the license holder is entitled to appeal the suspension by
2-3 filing by certified mail an appeal with the director not later than
2-4 the 30th day after the date the license holder receives the notice
2-5 of suspension. The person shall send a copy of the notice of
2-6 appeal to the assigned division representative.
2-7 (e) Not later than the 14th day after the date the director
2-8 receives an appeal under Subsection (d), the director shall:
2-9 (1) appoint an advisory review board to review the
2-10 division action; or
2-11 (2) notify the person that the appeal was denied.
2-12 (f) The director shall appoint five of the person's peers to
2-13 the advisory review board and shall set a date for the hearing that
2-14 must be not later than the 28th day after the date the members are
2-15 appointed.
2-16 (g) The advisory review board shall hear the appeal and
2-17 render its opinion to the director not later than the seventh day
2-18 after the date the hearing ends. A board member is entitled to
2-19 receive actual travel expenses and the state per diem for each day
2-20 of the hearing.
2-21 (h) A committee composed of the director, division
2-22 representative responsible for establishing standards, and division
2-23 representative administering this chapter in the region in which
2-24 the facility is located shall review the opinion of the advisory
2-25 review board. The committee shall make a decision on the board's
2-26 opinion not later than the 14th day after the date the hearing
2-27 concludes. The division shall notify the license holder of a
3-1 committee decision by certified mail.
3-2 (i) If the committee fails to make a final determination on
3-3 the merits of the appeal during the period prescribed by Subsection
3-4 (h), the temporary suspension is vacated.
3-5 (j) The license holder may challenge the committee's
3-6 decision by filing a suit in a district court of Travis County or
3-7 in the county in which the facility is located not later than the
3-8 30th day after the date the person receives notice of the
3-9 committee's decision. The trial shall be de novo.
3-10 (k) The division shall keep the records of a hearing
3-11 conducted under this section until the second anniversary of the
3-12 date of the final division decision on the matter. On request, and
3-13 at the person's own expense, the division shall supply a copy of
3-14 the verbatim transcript of a hearing to a person appealing the
3-15 division's decision.
3-16 (l) A person may not continue to operate a facility during
3-17 an appeal of an action under this section unless the division
3-18 authorizes the operation. <The division shall seek an injunction
3-19 against continued operation of the facility after closing a
3-20 facility under this section.>
3-21 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
3-22 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-23 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-24 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-25 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-26 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.