1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to inspection of certain child-care facilities.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 42, Human Resources Code,
1-5 is amended by adding Sections 42.0441-42.0443 to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 42.0441. INSPECTION RESULTS. Immediately after
1-7 completing a monitoring inspection of a licensed day-care center,
1-8 licensed group day-care home, or registered family home under
1-9 Section 42.044, the authorized representative of the department
1-10 shall review the results of the monitoring inspection with a
1-11 representative of the facility and give the facility an opportunity
1-12 to respond to the inspection results.
1-13 Sec. 42.0442. COORDINATION OF INSPECTIONS; ELIMINATION OF
1-14 DUPLICATIVE INSPECTIONS. (a) The department shall coordinate
1-15 monitoring inspections of licensed day-care centers, licensed group
1-16 day-care homes, and registered family homes performed by another
1-17 state agency to eliminate redundant inspections.
1-18 (b) The department shall form an interagency task force with
1-19 the Texas Department of Health, the Texas Department of Human
1-20 Services, and the Texas Workforce Commission to develop an
1-21 inspection protocol that will coordinate inspections by those
1-22 agencies. The protocol must assign the required items for
1-23 inspection by each agency and facilitate the sharing of inspection
1-24 data and compliance history.
2-1 Sec. 42.0443. INSPECTION INFORMATION DATABASE. (a) If
2-2 feasible using available information systems, the department shall
2-3 establish a computerized database containing relevant inspection
2-4 information on licensed day-care centers, licensed group day-care
2-5 homes, and registered family homes from other state agencies and
2-6 political subdivisions of the state.
2-7 (b) The department shall make the data collected by the
2-8 department available to another state agency or political
2-9 subdivision of the state for the purpose of administering programs
2-10 or enforcing laws within the jurisdiction of that agency or
2-11 subdivision. If feasible using available information systems, the
2-12 department shall make the data directly available to the Texas
2-13 Department of Health, the Texas Department of Human Services, and
2-14 the Texas Workforce Commission through electronic information
2-15 systems. The department, the Texas Department of Health, the Texas
2-16 Department of Human Services, and the Texas Workforce Commission
2-17 shall jointly plan the development of child-care inspection
2-18 databases that, to the extent feasible, are similar in their design
2-19 and architecture to promote the sharing of data.
2-20 (c) The department may provide inspection data on licensed
2-21 day-care centers, licensed group day-care homes, or registered
2-22 family homes to the public if the department determines that
2-23 providing inspection data enhances consumer choice with respect to
2-24 those facilities.
2-25 SECTION 2. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
2-26 (b) Not later than February 1, 1998, the Department of
2-27 Protective and Regulatory Services, the Texas Department of Human
3-1 Services, the Texas Department of Health, and the Texas Workforce
3-2 Commission shall report the recommendations for the protocol for
3-3 coordinated inspections provided by Section 42.0442, Human
3-4 Resources Code, as added by this Act, to their respective governing
3-5 boards or commissions. The implementation of the protocol shall
3-6 begin not later than June 1, 1998.
3-7 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1555 was passed by the House on April
18, 1997, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1555 was passed by the Senate on May
12, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor