By Madla                                         S.B. No. 725

      75R2268 SAW-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the qualification of a personal care facility as a

 1-3     community home.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 123.004, Human Resources Code, is amended

 1-6     to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 123.004.  QUALIFICATION AS COMMUNITY HOME.  To qualify

 1-8     as a community home, an entity must[: (1)] comply with Sections

 1-9     123.005 through 123.008[;] and [(2)] be:

1-10                 (1)  a community-based residential home operated by:

1-11                       (A)  the Texas Department of Mental Health and

1-12     Mental Retardation;

1-13                       (B)  a community center organized under

1-14     Subchapter A, Chapter 534, Health and Safety Code [Section 3.01,

1-15     Texas Mental Health and Mental Retardation Act (Article 5547-203,

1-16     Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes)], that provides services to persons

1-17     with disabilities;

1-18                       (C)  an entity subject to the Texas Non-Profit

1-19     Corporation Act (Article 1396-1.01 et seq., Vernon's Texas Civil

1-20     Statutes);  or

1-21                       (D)  an entity certified by the Texas Department

1-22     of Human Services as a provider under the medical assistance

1-23     program serving persons in intermediate care facilities for persons

1-24     with mental retardation; or

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

 2-2     247, Health and Safety Code.

 2-3           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

 2-4           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-5     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-6     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-7     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-8     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.