By Maxey                                               H.B. No. 863
       74R2324 CBH-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to payment error rates in the food stamp and AFDC
    1-3  programs.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Chapter 22, Human Resources Code, is amended by
    1-6  adding Sections 22.025 and 22.026 to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 22.025.  ERROR-RATE REDUCTION.  (a)  The department
    1-8  shall:
    1-9              (1)  set progressive goals for improving the
   1-10  department's error rates in the aid to families with dependent
   1-11  children and food stamp programs; and
   1-12              (2)  develop a specific schedule to meet those goals.
   1-13        (b)  Each fiscal quarter, the department shall prepare a
   1-14  report detailing the progress the department has made in reaching
   1-15  its goals.  The report must include an analysis by region of the
   1-16  department's goals and performance relating to error-rate
   1-17  reduction.  The department shall send a copy of the report to the
   1-18  governor's office, the legislative budget office, and any
   1-19  appropriate interagency task force having oversight responsibility
   1-20  over welfare fraud.
   1-21        (c)  As appropriate, the department shall include in its
   1-22  employee evaluation process a rating system that emphasizes
   1-23  error-rate reduction and workload.
   1-24        (d)  The department shall take appropriate disciplinary
    2-1  action, including dismissal, against management and other staff if
    2-2  a region has a higher than average error rate and that rate is not
    2-3  reduced in a reasonable period.
    2-4        Sec. 22.026.  REDUCTION OF CLIENT FRAUD.  The department
    2-5  shall:
    2-6              (1)  ensure that errors attributed to client fraud are
    2-7  appropriate; and
    2-8              (2)  take immediate and appropriate action to limit any
    2-9  client fraud that occurs.
   2-10        SECTION 2.  Section 33.002, Human Resources Code, is amended
   2-11  by adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:
   2-12        (g)  The department may, within federal limits, modify the
   2-13  one-day screening and service delivery requirements prescribed by
   2-14  Subsection (e) if the department determines that the modification
   2-15  is necessary to achieve a state error rate that is equal to or
   2-16  below the national average error rate.
   2-17        SECTION 3.  Not later than September 1, 1995, the Texas
   2-18  Department of Human Services shall develop a concentrated and
   2-19  effective plan for the city of Houston region to reduce the
   2-20  department's error rates in the aid to families with dependent
   2-21  children and food stamp programs.
   2-22        SECTION 4.  The Texas Department of Human Services shall make
   2-23  the first progress report required by Section 22.025, Human
   2-24  Resources Code, as added by this Act, not later than September 1,
   2-25  1995.
   2-26        SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-27  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-1  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-2  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-3  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    3-4  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    3-5  passage, and it is so enacted.