By: Moncrief S.B. No. 333
73R3085 CLG-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the provision of guardianship services 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 1, Article 4413(503), Revised Statutes,
1-6 is amended to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 1. DEFINITIONS. In this article:
1-8 (1) "Advisory board" means the Public Guardian
1-9 Advisory Board.
1-10 (2) <(1)> "Board" means the Board of Protective and
1-11 Regulatory Services.
1-12 (3) <(2)> "Commission" means the Health and Human
1-13 Services Commission.
1-14 (4) <(3)> "Department" means the Department of
1-15 Protective and Regulatory Services.
1-16 (5) <(4)> "Director" means the director of the
1-17 Department of Protective and Regulatory Services.
1-18 (6) "Guardianship program" means a local, county, or
1-19 regional program that provides guardianship and related services to
1-20 an incapacitated person or other person who needs assistance in
1-21 making decisions concerning the person's own welfare or financial
1-22 affairs.
1-23 (7) "Incapacitated person" means:
1-24 (A) a minor;
2-1 (B) an adult individual who, because of a
2-2 physical or mental condition, is substantially unable to provide
2-3 food, clothing, or shelter for himself or herself, to care for the
2-4 individual's own physical health, or to manage the individual's own
2-5 financial affairs;
2-6 (C) a missing person; or
2-7 (D) a person who must have a guardian appointed
2-8 to receive funds due the person from any governmental source.
2-9 SECTION 2. Article 4413(503), Revised Statutes, is amended
2-10 by adding Sections 14-20 to read as follows:
2-11 Sec. 14. ADMINISTRATION OF PROVISION OF GUARDIANSHIP AND
2-12 RELATED SERVICES. (a) The department is the state agency
2-13 designated to administer the provision of guardianship and related
2-14 services in the state.
2-15 (b) The department shall:
2-16 (1) develop a state plan to ensure that all persons
2-17 who need a guardianship or another less restrictive type of
2-18 assistance to make decisions concerning a person's own welfare or
2-19 financial affairs receive that assistance;
2-20 (2) consult and cooperate with the governing body of
2-21 one or more municipalities or counties concerning the development
2-22 of a guardianship program;
2-23 (3) provide to a guardian, a proposed guardian, or a
2-24 member of a guardianship program education, training, and technical
2-25 assistance on guardianship and alternatives to guardianship that
2-26 may be used in lieu of a guardianship to represent the interests of
2-27 an incapacitated person or other person who needs assistance in
3-1 making decisions concerning the person's own welfare or financial
3-2 affairs; and
3-3 (4) provide information and referral services on
3-4 guardianship and related services.
3-5 (c) The department may employ not more than 10 employees for
3-6 the administration of the department's duties under this section.
3-7 Sec. 15. ADVISORY BOARD. (a) The Public Guardian Advisory
3-8 Board is created to advise the board in adopting standards under
3-9 Section 17 of this article and in administering the department's
3-10 duties under Section 14 of this article.
3-11 (b) The advisory board is composed of nine members appointed
3-12 by the board and of five nonvoting ex officio members.
3-13 (c) The board shall appoint:
3-14 (1) three members of a guardianship program;
3-15 (2) three members of private associations of persons
3-16 who advocate on the behalf of, or in the interest of, the elderly
3-17 or persons with mental illness or mental retardation;
3-18 (3) two persons, each of whom is a judge or justice of
3-19 a court of this state or another person licensed to practice law in
3-20 this state; and
3-21 (4) one parent of an incapacitated person other than a
3-22 minor.
3-23 (d) The nonvoting ex officio members are the presiding
3-24 officer of the governing body of each of the following agencies or
3-25 each officer's designated representative:
3-26 (1) Texas Department of Human Services;
3-27 (2) Texas Department on Aging;
4-1 (3) Texas Department of Health;
4-2 (4) Department of Protective and Regulatory Services;
4-3 and
4-4 (5) Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental
4-5 Retardation.
4-6 (e) The advisory board shall elect from its members a
4-7 presiding officer and any other officers considered necessary.
4-8 (f) Appointments to the advisory board shall be made without
4-9 regard to the race, color, disability, sex, religion, age, or
4-10 national origin of an appointee.
4-11 (g) The validity of an action of the advisory board is not
4-12 affected by the fact that it is taken when a ground for removal of
4-13 an appointed member of the advisory board exists.
4-14 (h) An appointed member of the advisory board serves at the
4-15 pleasure of the board.
4-16 (i) An appointed member of the advisory board is entitled to
4-17 a per diem as set by legislative appropriation for each day that
4-18 the member engages in advisory board business. An appointed member
4-19 of the advisory board may not otherwise receive compensation for
4-20 service as a member of the advisory board but is entitled to
4-21 reimbursement for actual and necessary expenses in the performance
4-22 of advisory board business in an amount not exceeding the amount
4-23 authorized to be paid to a member of the legislature for similar
4-24 expenses.
4-25 Sec. 16. MEETINGS. The advisory board shall hold meetings
4-26 quarterly and may hold other meetings called by the presiding
4-27 officer. The advisory board shall develop and implement policies
5-1 that will provide the public with a reasonable opportunity to
5-2 appear before the members of the advisory board and to speak on any
5-3 issue under the jurisdiction of the advisory board.
5-4 Sec. 17. STANDARDS. (a) The board by rule shall adopt
5-5 minimum standards for the provision of guardianship and related
5-6 services for a:
5-7 (1) guardianship program;
5-8 (2) person who provides guardianship and related
5-9 services on behalf of a guardianship program, including a person
5-10 who serves as a volunteer guardian; and
5-11 (3) person or entity who serves as a private
5-12 professional guardian.
5-13 (b) The standards the board adopts under this section must
5-14 be designed to protect the interests of an incapacitated person or
5-15 other person who needs assistance making decisions concerning the
5-16 person's own welfare or financial affairs.
5-17 (c) In this section, "private professional guardian" means a
5-18 person who is engaged in the business of providing guardianship
5-19 services.
5-20 Sec. 18. CONTRACTS. If there is no guardianship program to
5-21 provide assistance, the department may contract with another person
5-22 or entity to:
5-23 (1) file an application under Section 111, 130C, or
5-24 131(b), Texas Probate Code, to be appointed as a guardian of the
5-25 estate or person, or both, of an incapacitated person if there is
5-26 no eligible person interested in filing an application to be
5-27 appointed guardian of the incapacitated person; or
6-1 (2) provide assistance to a person who needs
6-2 assistance other than a guardianship to make a decision concerning
6-3 the person's own welfare or financial affairs.
6-4 Sec. 19. DONATIONS AND GRANTS. (a) The department may
6-5 accept and solicit gifts or grants of money or property from public
6-6 or private sources for use in carrying out the department's duties
6-7 under this article.
6-8 (b) The department shall make matching grants to a
6-9 guardianship program in an amount of not more than $1 for each $1
6-10 spent by the guardianship program.
6-11 Sec. 20. REPORT. Not later than February 1 of each
6-12 odd-numbered year, the board shall submit to the legislature a
6-13 biennial report that includes recommendations to improve
6-14 guardianship and related services provided to a person by a
6-15 guardianship program or a person or entity who contracts with the
6-16 department under Section 18 of this article.
6-17 SECTION 3. Section 3(x), Texas Probate Code, is amended to
6-18 read as follows:
6-19 (x) "Person" includes natural persons, <and> corporations,
6-20 and guardianship programs as defined by Section 1, Article
6-21 4413(503), Revised Statutes.
6-22 SECTION 4. As soon as practicable after the effective date
6-23 of this Act, the board of the Department of Protective and
6-24 Regulatory Services shall appoint the initial members of the Public
6-25 Guardian Advisory Board created by this Act.
6-26 SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
6-27 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
7-1 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-2 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-3 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-4 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.