By Naishtat H.B. No. 1585
76R6434 KKA-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to coordination of services for adults with multiple
1-3 disabilities.
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 531.051 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 531.051. MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING ON SERVICES FOR
1-8 ADULTS WITH MULTIPLE DISABILITIES. (a) The commission, the Texas
1-9 Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, the Texas Commission for the
1-10 Blind, the Texas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the
1-11 Texas Council on Offenders with Mental Impairments, the Texas
1-12 Education Agency, the Texas Department on Aging, the Texas
1-13 Department of Criminal Justice, the Texas Department of Health, the
1-14 Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, the Texas
1-15 Department of Human Services, the Texas Department of Mental Health
1-16 and Mental Retardation, the Department of Protective and Regulatory
1-17 Services, the Texas Rehabilitation Commission, and the Texas
1-18 Workforce Commission shall adopt a joint memorandum of
1-19 understanding to implement a system of local level interagency
1-20 staffing groups to coordinate services for adults with multiple
1-21 disabilities.
1-22 (b) The memorandum must:
1-23 (1) clarify the financial and statutory
1-24 responsibilities of each participating agency in relation to an
2-1 adult with multiple disabilities;
2-2 (2) include a functional definition of "an adult with
2-3 multiple disabilities";
2-4 (3) establish procedures for interagency cost sharing
2-5 and cost sharing with private service providers;
2-6 (4) establish procedures to eliminate duplication of
2-7 services relating to adults with multiple disabilities and provide
2-8 for coordinated case management;
2-9 (5) establish procedures for addressing interagency
2-10 disputes relating to areas of service responsibilities;
2-11 (6) require that each local level interagency staffing
2-12 group include a local representative of each participating agency;
2-13 (7) provide that a participating agency unable to
2-14 provide all necessary services to an adult with multiple
2-15 disabilities may submit the adult's case to the local level
2-16 interagency staffing group for consideration;
2-17 (8) provide that a local level interagency staffing
2-18 group meeting may be called by any member of the group;
2-19 (9) provide that a member may be excused from
2-20 attending a meeting of a local level interagency staffing group if
2-21 the group determines that the needs of the adult to be considered
2-22 are clearly outside the service responsibilities of the
2-23 participating agency represented by the member;
2-24 (10) provide that records used or developed by a
2-25 participating agency that relate to a particular adult with
2-26 multiple disabilities are confidential and may not be released to
2-27 another person or agency except as provided in this section or by
3-1 other law; and
3-2 (11) provide a procedure that permits participating
3-3 agencies to share confidential information while preserving the
3-4 confidential nature of the information.
3-5 (c) In developing the memorandum of understanding, the
3-6 commission and other agencies specified by Subsection (a) shall:
3-7 (1) consult with and solicit input from appropriate
3-8 advocacy and consumer groups;
3-9 (2) consult with and solicit input from
3-10 representatives of local interagency staffing groups established
3-11 under the memorandum of understanding required by Section 264.003,
3-12 Family Code, regarding the transition of a person receiving
3-13 services from programs for children and youth into programs
3-14 providing services for adults; and
3-15 (3) seek to produce a coordinated system for adults
3-16 similar to the coordinated system for multiproblem children and
3-17 youth established under the memorandum of understanding required by
3-18 Section 264.003, Family Code.
3-19 (d) Not later than the last month of each state fiscal year,
3-20 the participating agencies shall review and update the memorandum
3-21 of understanding required by this section.
3-22 (e) Each participating agency by rule shall adopt the
3-23 memorandum of understanding and all revisions to the memorandum.
3-24 (f) The commission shall establish outcome standards to be
3-25 used by the commission in measuring and evaluating the
3-26 effectiveness of the system established under this section. Each
3-27 participating agency other than the commission shall provide the
4-1 commission with information relating to the costs of services
4-2 provided by that agency in accordance with the memorandum of
4-3 understanding, the sources of funding for those services, and any
4-4 other information considered necessary by the commission.
4-5 SECTION 2. Not later than November 1, 1999, the Health and
4-6 Human Services Commission and each agency listed in Section
4-7 531.051, Government Code, as added by this Act, shall adopt the
4-8 joint memorandum of understanding required by that section.
4-9 SECTION 3. Not later than September 1, 2000, the Health and
4-10 Human Services Commission shall submit to the governor and the
4-11 legislature a report relating to the memorandum of understanding
4-12 required by Section 531.051, Government Code, as added by this Act.
4-13 The report must include an evaluation of the effectiveness of the
4-14 system of coordinated services established under the memorandum of
4-15 understanding.
4-16 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-17 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-18 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-19 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-20 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-21 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-22 passage, and it is so enacted.