1-1     By:  Madla                                             S.B. No. 725

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed February 24, 1997; February 26, 1997,

 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Health and Human

 1-4     Services; March 19, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:

 1-5     Yeas 10, Nays 1; March 19, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to the qualification of a personal care facility as a

 1-9     community home.

1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 123.004, Human Resources Code, is amended

1-12     to read as follows:

1-13           Sec. 123.004.  QUALIFICATION AS COMMUNITY HOME.  To qualify

1-14     as a community home, an entity must[: (1)] comply with Sections

1-15     123.005 through 123.008[;] and [(2)] be:

1-16                 (1)  a community-based residential home operated by:

1-17                       (A)  the Texas Department of Mental Health and

1-18     Mental Retardation;

1-19                       (B)  a community center organized under

1-20     Subchapter A, Chapter 534, Health and Safety Code [Section 3.01,

1-21     Texas Mental Health and Mental Retardation Act (Article 5547-203,

1-22     Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes)], that provides services to persons

1-23     with disabilities;

1-24                       (C)  an entity subject to the Texas Non-Profit

1-25     Corporation Act (Article 1396-1.01 et seq., Vernon's Texas Civil

1-26     Statutes); or

1-27                       (D)  an entity certified by the Texas Department

1-28     of Human Services as a provider under the medical assistance

1-29     program serving persons in intermediate care facilities for persons

1-30     with mental retardation; or

1-31                 (2)  a personal care facility licensed under Chapter

1-32     247, Health and Safety Code.

1-33           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-34           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-35     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-36     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-37     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-38     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

1-39                                  * * * * *