By Hirschi                                            H.B. No. 2451

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the authority of the Department of Protective and

 1-3     Regulatory Services to obtain certain criminal history record

 1-4     information from the Department of Public Safety.

 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-6           SECTION 1.  Section 411.114(a)(2), Government Code, is

 1-7     amended to read as follows:

 1-8                 (2)  The Department of Protective and Regulatory

 1-9     Services is entitled to obtain from the department criminal history

1-10     record information maintained by the department that relates to a

1-11     person who is:

1-12                       (A)  an applicant for a license, registration, or

1-13     certification under Chapter 42, Human Resources Code;

1-14                       (B)  an owner or employee of or an applicant for

1-15     employment by a child-care facility licensed, registered, or

1-16     certified under that chapter;

1-17                       (C)  a resident of a registered family home, but

1-18     not a child in the home's care or a parent of the child;

1-19                       (D)  an applicant for a position with the

1-20     Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, the duties of

1-21     which include direct delivery of protective services to children,

1-22     elderly persons, or persons with a disability;

1-23                       (E)  a volunteer or applicant volunteer with a

1-24     local affiliate in this state of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of

 2-1     America;

 2-2                       (F)  a volunteer or applicant volunteer with the

 2-3     "I Have a Dream/Houston" program;

 2-4                       (G)  an employee of, an applicant for employment

 2-5     with, or a volunteer or an applicant volunteer with a business

 2-6     entity or person that contracts with the Department of Protective

 2-7     and Regulatory Services to provide direct delivery of protective

 2-8     services to children, elderly persons, or persons with a

 2-9     disability, if the person's duties or responsibilities include

2-10     direct contact with children, elderly persons, or persons with a

2-11     disability;

2-12                       (H)  a volunteer or applicant volunteer with the

2-13     Department of Protective and Regulatory Services;

2-14                       (I)  a volunteer or applicant volunteer with an

2-15     organization that provides court-appointed special advocates for

2-16     abused or neglected children;

2-17                       (J)  a person providing or applying to provide

2-18     adoptive or foster care for children in the care of the Department

2-19     of Protective and Regulatory Services and other adults living with

2-20     that person in the residence in which the child will reside;

2-21                       (K)  a Department of Protective and Regulatory

2-22     Services employee who is engaged in the direct delivery of

2-23     protective services to children, elderly persons, or persons with a

2-24     disability;

2-25                       (L)  a person who is the subject of a report the

2-26     department receives alleging that the person has abused or

2-27     neglected a child, an elderly person, or a person with a

 3-1     disability, provided that report has proven to have merit;

 3-2                       (M)  a relative providing or applying to provide

 3-3     in-home care for a child in the care of the Department of

 3-4     Protective and Regulatory Services and other adults living with

 3-5     that relative in the residence in which the child will reside;

 3-6                       (N)  a person providing child care for a child

 3-7     who is in the care of the Department of Protective and Regulatory

 3-8     Services and who is or will be receiving adoptive, foster, or

 3-9     in-home care;

3-10                       (O)  a person providing, at the request of the

3-11     child's parent, in-home care for a child who is the subject of a

3-12     report alleging the child has been abused or neglected; [or]

3-13                       (P)  a volunteer or applicant volunteer with a

3-14     Texas chapter of the Make-a-Wish Foundation of America; or

3-15                       (Q)  through a contract with a nonprofit

3-16     management center, an employee of, an applicant for employment

3-17     with, or a volunteer or an applicant volunteer with a nonprofit,

3-18     tax-exempt organization that provides any service that involves the

3-19     care of or access to children, elderly persons, or persons with a

3-20     disability.

3-21           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

3-22     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

3-23     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

3-24     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

3-25     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

3-26     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

3-27     passage, and it is so enacted.