1-1     By:  Hirschi (Senate Sponsor - Nixon)                 H.B. No. 2451

 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 5, 1997;

 1-3     May 6, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on Health

 1-4     and Human Services; May 14, 1997, reported favorably by the

 1-5     following vote:  Yeas 10, Nays 0; May 14, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to the authority of the Department of Protective and

 1-9     Regulatory Services to obtain certain criminal history record

1-10     information from the Department of Public Safety.

1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-12           SECTION 1.  Section 411.114(a)(2), Government Code, is

1-13     amended to read as follows:

1-14                 (2)  The Department of Protective and Regulatory

1-15     Services is entitled to obtain from the department criminal history

1-16     record information maintained by the department that relates to a

1-17     person who is:

1-18                       (A)  an applicant for a license, registration, or

1-19     certification under Chapter 42, Human Resources Code;

1-20                       (B)  an owner or employee of or an applicant for

1-21     employment by a child-care facility licensed, registered, or

1-22     certified under that chapter;

1-23                       (C)  a resident of a registered family home, but

1-24     not a child in the home's care or a parent of the child;

1-25                       (D)  an applicant for a position with the

1-26     Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, the duties of

1-27     which include direct delivery of protective services to children,

1-28     elderly persons, or persons with a disability;

1-29                       (E)  a volunteer or applicant volunteer with a

1-30     local affiliate in this state of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of

1-31     America;

1-32                       (F)  a volunteer or applicant volunteer with the

1-33     "I Have a Dream/Houston" program;

1-34                       (G)  an employee of, an applicant for employment

1-35     with, or a volunteer or an applicant volunteer with a business

1-36     entity or person that contracts with the Department of Protective

1-37     and Regulatory Services to provide direct delivery of protective

1-38     services to children, elderly persons, or persons with a

1-39     disability, if the person's duties or responsibilities include

1-40     direct contact with children, elderly persons, or persons with a

1-41     disability;

1-42                       (H)  a volunteer or applicant volunteer with the

1-43     Department of Protective and Regulatory Services;

1-44                       (I)  a volunteer or applicant volunteer with an

1-45     organization that provides court-appointed special advocates for

1-46     abused or neglected children;

1-47                       (J)  a person providing or applying to provide

1-48     adoptive or foster care for children in the care of the Department

1-49     of Protective and Regulatory Services and other adults living with

1-50     that person in the residence in which the child will reside;

1-51                       (K)  a Department of Protective and Regulatory

1-52     Services employee who is engaged in the direct delivery of

1-53     protective services to children, elderly persons, or persons with a

1-54     disability;

1-55                       (L)  a person who is the subject of a report the

1-56     department receives alleging that the person has abused or

1-57     neglected a child, an elderly person, or a person with a

1-58     disability, provided that report has proven to have merit;

1-59                       (M)  a relative providing or applying to provide

1-60     in-home care for a child in the care of the Department of

1-61     Protective and Regulatory Services and other adults living with

1-62     that relative in the residence in which the child will reside;

1-63                       (N)  a person providing child care for a child

1-64     who is in the care of the Department of Protective and Regulatory

 2-1     Services and who is or will be receiving adoptive, foster, or

 2-2     in-home care;

 2-3                       (O)  a person providing, at the request of the

 2-4     child's parent, in-home care for a child who is the subject of a

 2-5     report alleging the child has been abused or neglected; [or]

 2-6                       (P)  a volunteer or applicant volunteer with a

 2-7     Texas chapter of the Make-a-Wish Foundation of America; or

 2-8                       (Q)  through a contract with a nonprofit

 2-9     management center, an employee of, an applicant for employment

2-10     with, or a volunteer or an applicant volunteer with a nonprofit,

2-11     tax-exempt organization that provides any service that involves the

2-12     care of or access to children, elderly persons, or persons with a

2-13     disability.

2-14           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-15     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-16     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-17     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-18     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-19     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-20     passage, and it is so enacted.

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