LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

                         Austin, Texas



                          FISCAL NOTE

                     74th Regular Session


                       February 22, 1995



         TO:    Honorable Senator Judith Zaffirini,     IN RE:  Senate Bill No. 196
      Chair                                           By: Barrientos
      Committee on Health & Human Services
      Senate
      Austin, Texas






FROM: John Keel, Director

In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on Senate Bill No.
196 (Relating to the establishment of caseload standards for
certain employees of the Texas Department of Human Services or
the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services.) this
office has determined the following:

The bill provides for the establishment of the Caseload Standard
Advisory Committee at the Department of Human Services and the
Department of Protective and Regulatory Services.  Each committee
will comprised of ten employees, which must be approved by the
HHSC commissioner.

Each committee will provide the following information to the
Health and Human Services Commissioner:
    
     recommendations regarding minimum and maximum caseloads for
each category of
     caseworker employed by the agency in which the advisory
committee is established;
    
     recommendations regarding the agency's authority to waive
certain reporting standards when
     the caseload of a caseworker employed by the agency exceeds    




the maximum number
     established by the HHSC commissioner; and,  
  
The committees would be required to make their recommendations no
later than March 1, 1996.

The HHSC commissioner would be required to adopt the rules
prescribing the caseload standards no later than September 1, 
1997.

The Department of Human Services and the Department of Protective
and Regulatory Services shall use the established standards to
assign caseloads to individual caseworkers and determine the
number of personnel to hire.

Fiscal implications would be dependent upon the caseload
standards established by the HHSC commissioner and therefore can
not be determined.


No fiscal implication to units of local government is
anticipated.

The fiscal implication to  the State cannot be determined.


Source:   Department of Human Services, Health and Human Services
Commission, Department of Protective and Regulatory Services
          LBB Staff: JK, MU



        Approval Status:

        Comments:
        LBB Coordinator Section




        Director's Approval Section