By Hodge                                         H.B. No. 802

      75R2716 MLS-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the coordination of tenant services programs.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subchapter K, Chapter 2306, Government Code, is

 1-5     amended by adding Section 2306.253 to read as follows:

 1-6           Sec. 2306.253.  TENANT SERVICES PROGRAM.  (a)  In this

 1-7     section, "tenant services" means social services, including child

 1-8     care, transportation, and basic adult education, that are provided

 1-9     to individuals residing in low-income public housing under Title

1-10     IV-A, Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. 601 et seq., and other similar

1-11     services.

1-12           (b)  To improve the provision of tenant services, the

1-13     department shall develop a program for coordinating the efforts of

1-14     various state agencies in obtaining federal funds for tenant

1-15     services.

1-16           (c)  The department shall designate a department employee as

1-17     the tenant services program coordinator.  The coordinator shall

1-18     serve as a liaison to the Texas Workforce Commission, the

1-19     Department of Human Services, the Department of Protective and

1-20     Regulatory Services, and the Legislative Budget Board on matters

1-21     relating to the coordination of tenant services programs.

1-22           (d)  The coordinator shall meet in Austin at least quarterly

1-23     with representatives of the Texas Workforce Commission, the

1-24     Department of Human Services, the Department of Protective and

 2-1     Regulatory Services, and the Legislative Budget Board to discuss

 2-2     efforts to obtain federal funds and discuss the number of persons

 2-3     receiving tenant services in this state.

 2-4           (e)  Not later than December 1 preceding a regular session of

 2-5     the legislature, the department shall file with the appropriate

 2-6     state agencies and legislative committees a report discussing the

 2-7     results of the department's program under this section.

 2-8           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-9     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-10     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-11     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-12     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-13     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-14     passage, and it is so enacted.