By Barrientos S.B. No. 543
75R3381 CLG-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the establishment of caseload standards for certain
1-3 employees of the Texas Department of Human Services or the
1-4 Department of Protective and Regulatory Services.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 531.001, Government Code, is amended to
1-7 read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 531.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
1-9 (1) "Caseload standards" means the minimum and maximum
1-10 number of cases that an employee can reasonably be expected to
1-11 perform in a normal work month based on the number of cases handled
1-12 by or the number of different job functions performed by the
1-13 employee.
1-14 (2) "Commission" means the Health and Human Services
1-15 Commission.
1-16 (3) [(2)] "Commissioner" means the commissioner of
1-17 health and human services.
1-18 (4) [(3)] "Health and human services agencies"
1-19 includes the:
1-20 (A) Interagency Council on Early Childhood
1-21 Intervention Services;
1-22 (B) Texas Department on Aging;
1-23 (C) Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse;
1-24 (D) Texas Commission for the Blind;
2-1 (E) Texas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of
2-2 Hearing [Impaired];
2-3 (F) Texas Department of Health;
2-4 (G) Texas Department of Human Services;
2-5 (H) Texas Juvenile Probation Commission;
2-6 (I) Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental
2-7 Retardation;
2-8 (J) Texas Rehabilitation Commission; and
2-9 (K) Department of Protective and Regulatory
2-10 Services.
2-11 (5) "Professional caseload standards" means caseload
2-12 standards that are established or are recommended for establishment
2-13 for employees of health and human services agencies by management
2-14 studies conducted for health and human services agencies or by an
2-15 authority or association, including the Child Welfare League of
2-16 America, the National Eligibility Workers Association, the National
2-17 Association of Social Workers, and associations of state health and
2-18 human services agencies.
2-19 SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is
2-20 amended by adding Section 531.047 to read as follows:
2-21 Sec. 531.047. CASELOAD STANDARDS. (a) After considering
2-22 the recommendations of the caseload standards advisory committees
2-23 under Section 531.048(e), the commissioner may establish caseload
2-24 standards and other standards relating to caseloads for each
2-25 category of caseworker employed by the Texas Department of Human
2-26 Services or the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services.
2-27 (b) In establishing standards under this section, the
3-1 commissioner shall:
3-2 (1) ensure the standards are based on the actual
3-3 duties of the caseworker;
3-4 (2) ensure the caseload standards are reasonable and
3-5 achievable;
3-6 (3) ensure the standards are consistent with existing
3-7 professional caseload standards;
3-8 (4) consider standards developed by other states for
3-9 caseworkers in similar positions of employment; and
3-10 (5) ensure the standards are consistent with existing
3-11 caseload standards of other state agencies.
3-12 (c) Subject to the availability of funds appropriated by the
3-13 legislature, the commissioner of human services and the executive
3-14 director of the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services
3-15 shall use the standards established by the commissioner under this
3-16 section to determine the number of personnel to assign as
3-17 caseworkers for their respective agencies.
3-18 (d) Subject to the availability of funds appropriated by the
3-19 legislature, the Texas Department of Human Services and the
3-20 Department of Protective and Regulatory Services shall use the
3-21 standards established by the commissioner to assign caseloads to
3-22 individual caseworkers employed by those agencies.
3-23 (e) The commissioner shall include a recommendation made to
3-24 the commissioner by a caseload standards advisory committee under
3-25 Section 531.048(e) in the strategic plan of the agency that is the
3-26 subject of the recommendation.
3-27 (f) Nothing in this section may be construed to create a
4-1 cause of action.
4-2 SECTION 3. Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is
4-3 amended by adding Section 531.048 to read as follows:
4-4 Sec. 531.048. CASELOAD STANDARDS ADVISORY COMMITTEES.
4-5 (a) A caseload standards advisory committee is established in the
4-6 Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, and a caseload
4-7 standards advisory committee is established in the Texas Department
4-8 of Human Services.
4-9 (b) A caseload standards advisory committee is composed of
4-10 10 employees appointed by the commissioner who are unit supervisors
4-11 or caseworkers in the agency in which the committee is established.
4-12 To the extent practicable, a caseload standards advisory committee
4-13 must include a unit supervisor or caseworker from each program area
4-14 of the agency in which the committee is established.
4-15 (c) The commissioner shall make appointments to a caseload
4-16 standards advisory committee from a list submitted by the
4-17 commissioner or the executive director of the agency in which the
4-18 committee is established.
4-19 (d) Members of a caseload standards advisory committee serve
4-20 at the pleasure of the commissioner.
4-21 (e) Each caseload standards advisory committee shall:
4-22 (1) review professional caseload standards and other
4-23 caseload standards and recommendations the committee considers
4-24 appropriate and recommend to the commissioner minimum and maximum
4-25 caseloads for each category of caseworker employed by the agency in
4-26 which the advisory committee is established; and
4-27 (2) advise and make recommendations to the
5-1 commissioner on granting the agency in which the advisory committee
5-2 has been established the authority to waive certain reporting
5-3 standards when the caseload of a caseworker employed by the agency
5-4 exceeds the maximum number established by the commissioner under
5-5 Section 531.047(a).
5-6 (f) The commissioner shall dissolve a caseload standards
5-7 advisory committee if the commissioner determines that the caseload
5-8 standards advisory committee is no longer necessary to develop and
5-9 implement the standards required under Section 531.047(a).
5-10 (g) Except as otherwise provided by this section, a caseload
5-11 standards advisory committee is subject to Article 6252-33, Revised
5-12 Statutes.
5-13 (h) Nothing in this section may be construed to create a
5-14 cause of action.
5-15 SECTION 4. (a) A caseload standards advisory committee
5-16 shall make its recommendations under Section 531.048(e), Government
5-17 Code, as added by this Act, not later than March 1, 1998.
5-18 (b) The commissioner of health and human services shall
5-19 adopt rules prescribing the standards required by Section
5-20 531.047(a), Government Code, as added by this Act, not later than
5-21 September 1, 1999.
5-22 SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
5-23 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
5-24 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-25 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-26 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-27 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.