By Harris                                        S.B. No. 792

      75R6513 MCK-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to requirements for providers of substitute-care services

 1-3     for children.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is

 1-6     amended by adding Section 531.047 to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 531.047.  SUBSTITUTE-CARE PROVIDER OUTCOME STANDARDS.

 1-8     (a)  The commission, after consulting with representatives from the

 1-9     Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, the Texas

1-10     Juvenile Probation Commission, and the Texas Department of Mental

1-11     Health and Mental Retardation, shall by rule adopt result-oriented

1-12     standards that a provider of substitute-care services for children

1-13     under the care of the state must achieve.

1-14           (b)  A health and human services agency that purchases

1-15     substitute-care services must include the result-oriented standards

1-16     as requirements in each substitute-care service provider contract.

1-17           (c)  A health and human services agency may provide

1-18     information about a substitute-care provider including rates,

1-19     contracts, outcomes, and client information to another agency that

1-20     purchases substitute-care services.

1-21           SECTION 2.  The Health and Human Services Commission shall

1-22     adopt the rules required by Section 531.047, Government Code, as

1-23     added by this Act, not later than January 1, 1998.

1-24           SECTION 3.  An agency that purchases substitute-care services

 2-1     shall review the effectiveness of the result-oriented standards

 2-2     adopted under Section 531.047, Government Code, as added by this

 2-3     Act, and report to the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of

 2-4     the house of representatives, comptroller, and Legislative Budget

 2-5     Board, not later than January 31, 1999.

 2-6           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-7     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-8     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-9     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-10     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-11     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-12     passage, and it is so enacted.