By:  Madla                                            S.B. No. 1470
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the provision of certain services to elderly persons by
    1-2  the Texas Department on Aging and the Texas Department of Human
    1-3  Services.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 101, Human Resources Code,
    1-6  is amended by adding Section 101.0255 to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 101.0255.  SERVICE STANDARDS AND AGREEMENTS.  (a)  The
    1-8  department and the Texas Department of Human Services, with the
    1-9  approval of the Health and Human Services Commission, shall work to
   1-10  ensure consistency in service standards used by the respective
   1-11  agency in the provision of the same or substantially similar
   1-12  services under a community program on aging under Subchapter III,
   1-13  Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. Section 3001 et seq.), or
   1-14  the Options for Independent Living program and a community care
   1-15  program of the Texas Department of Human Services.
   1-16        (b)  Not later than January 1, 1994, the department and the
   1-17  Texas Department of Human Services, in accordance with federal law,
   1-18  including the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. Section 3001
   1-19  et seq.), shall enter into an agreement that allows an area agency
   1-20  on aging to:
   1-21              (1)  jointly contract with a service provider that is
   1-22  under contract with the Texas Department of Human Services to
   1-23  provide services under a community care program; and
    2-1              (2)  use the billing and audit procedures of the Texas
    2-2  Department of Human Services to eliminate unnecessary duplication
    2-3  and to secure reduced rates through economies of scale.
    2-4        SECTION 2.  Subsection (d), Section 101.044, Human Resources
    2-5  Code, is amended to read as follows:
    2-6        (d)  An area agency on aging may not directly provide
    2-7  homemaker, home health, residential repair, respite, meal delivery,
    2-8  or transportation service unless the area agency:
    2-9              (1)  receives no response to a request for proposals
   2-10  that meets department standards; and
   2-11              (2)  has exhausted all other procurement options
   2-12  available under department rules.
   2-13        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   2-14        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-15  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-16  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-17  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-18  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.