By:  Madla                                             S.B. No. 725

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to the qualification of a personal care facility as a

 1-2     community home.

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

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 123.004, Human Resources Code, is amended

 1-5     to read as follows:

 1-6           Sec. 123.004.  QUALIFICATION AS COMMUNITY HOME.  To qualify

 1-7     as a community home, an entity must[: (1)] comply with Sections

 1-8     123.005 through 123.008[;] and [(2)] be:

 1-9                 (1)  a community-based residential home operated by:

1-10                       (A)  the Texas Department of Mental Health and

1-11     Mental Retardation;

1-12                       (B)  a community center organized under

1-13     Subchapter A, Chapter 534, Health and Safety Code [Section 3.01,

1-14     Texas Mental Health and Mental Retardation Act (Article 5547-203,

1-15     Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes)], that provides services to persons

1-16     with disabilities;

1-17                       (C)  an entity subject to the Texas Non-Profit

1-18     Corporation Act (Article 1396-1.01 et seq., Vernon's Texas Civil

1-19     Statutes); or

1-20                       (D)  an entity certified by the Texas Department

1-21     of Human Services as a provider under the medical assistance

1-22     program serving persons in intermediate care facilities for persons

1-23     with mental retardation; or

 2-1                 (2)  a personal care facility licensed under Chapter

 2-2     247, Health and Safety Code, provided that the exterior structure

 2-3     retains compatibility with the surrounding residential dwellings.

 2-4           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

 2-5           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-6     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-7     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-8     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-9     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.