Amend CSSB 359 (House Committee Report) as follows:
(1) Add the appropriately numbered SECTIONS to the bill to
read as follows and renumber existing SECTIONS of the bill
accordingly:
SECTION ____. Section 531.001, Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
Sec. 531.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Caseload standards" means the minimum and maximum
number of cases that an employee can reasonably be expected to
perform in a normal work month based on the number of cases handled
by or the number of different job functions performed by the
employee.
(2) "Commission" means the Health and Human Services
Commission.
(3) <(2)> "Commissioner" means the commissioner of
health and human services.
(4) <(3)> "Health and human services agencies" includes
the:
(A) Interagency Council on Early Childhood
Intervention Services;
(B) Texas Department on Aging;
(C) Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse;
(D) Texas Commission for the Blind;
(E) Texas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of
Hearing <Impaired>;
(F) Texas Department of Health;
(G) Texas Department of Human Services;
(H) Texas Juvenile Probation Commission;
(I) Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental
Retardation;
(J) Texas Rehabilitation Commission; and
(K) Department of Protective and Regulatory
Services.
(5) "Professional caseload standards" means caseload
standards that are established or are recommended for establishment
for employees of health and human services agencies by management
studies conducted for health and human services agencies or by an
authority or association, including the Child Welfare League of
America, the National Eligibility Workers Association, the National
Association of Social Workers, and associations of state health and
human services agencies.
SECTION ____. Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 531.047 to read as follows:
Sec. 531.047. CASELOAD STANDARDS. (a) After considering
the recommendations of the caseload standards advisory committees
under Section 531.048(e), the commissioner may establish caseload
standards and other standards relating to caseloads for each
category of caseworker employed by the Texas Department of Human
Services or the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services.
(b) In establishing standards under this section, the
commissioner shall:
(1) ensure the standards are based on the actual
duties of the caseworker;
(2) ensure the caseload standards are reasonable and
achievable;
(3) ensure the standards are consistent with existing
professional caseload standards;
(4) consider standards developed by other states for
caseworkers in similar positions of employment; and
(5) ensure the standards are consistent with existing
caseload standards of other state agencies.
(c) Subject to the availability of funds appropriated by
the legislature, the commissioner of human services and the
executive director of the Department of Protective and Regulatory
Services shall use the standards established by the commissioner
under this section to determine the number of personnel to assign
as caseworkers for their respective agencies.
(d) Subject to the availability of funds appropriated by the
legislature, the Texas Department of Human Services and the
Department of Protective and Regulatory Services shall use the
standards established by the commissioner to assign caseloads to
individual caseworkers employed by those agencies.
(e) The commissioner shall include a recommendation made to
the commissioner by a caseload standards advisory committee under
Section 531.048(e) in the strategic plan of the agency that is the
subject of the recommendation.
(f) Nothing in this section may be construed to create a
cause of action.
SECTION ____. Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 531.048 to read as follows:
Sec. 531.048. CASELOAD STANDARDS ADVISORY COMMITTEES.
(a) A caseload standards advisory committee is established
in the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, and a
caseload standards advisory committee is established in the Texas
Department of Human Services.
(b) A caseload standards advisory committee is composed of
10 employees appointed by the commissioner who are unit supervisors
or caseworkers in the agency in which the committee is established.
To the extent practicable, a caseload standards advisory committee
must include a unit supervisor or caseworker from each program area
of the agency in which the committee is established.
(c) The commissioner shall make appointments to a caseload
standards advisory committee from a list submitted by the
commissioner or the executive director of the agency in which the
committee is established.
(d) Members of a caseload standards advisory committee serve
at the pleasure of the commissioner.
(e) Each caseload standards advisory committee shall:
(1) review professional caseload standards and other
caseload standards and recommendations the committee considers
appropriate and recommend to the commissioner minimum and maximum
caseloads for each category of caseworker employed by the agency in
which the advisory committee is established; and
(2) advise and make recommendations to the
commissioner on granting the agency in which the advisory committee
has been established the authority to waive certain reporting
standards when the caseload of a caseworker employed by the agency
exceeds the maximum number established by the commissioner under
Section 531.047(a).
(f) The commissioner shall dissolve a caseload standards
advisory committee if the commissioner determines that the caseload
standards advisory committee is no longer necessary to develop and
implement the standards required under Section 531.047(a).
(g) Except as otherwise provided by this section, a caseload
standards advisory committee is subject to Article 6252-33, Revised
Statutes.
(h) Nothing in this section may be construed to create a
cause of action.
SECTION ____. (a) A caseload standards advisory committee
shall make its recommendations under Section 531.048(e), Government
Code, as added by this Act, not later than March 1, 1998.
(b) The commissioner of health and human services shall
adopt rules prescribing the standards required by Section
531.047(a), Government Code, as added by this Act, not later than
September 1, 1999.