1-1 By: Chisum (Senate Sponsor - Zaffirini) H.B. No. 3126 1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 13, 1999; 1-3 May 14, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on Human 1-4 Services; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote: 1-5 Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to printer.) 1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-7 AN ACT 1-8 relating to the establishment and application of uniform criteria 1-9 for evaluating state-funded drug abuse prevention programs. 1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-11 SECTION 1. ESTABLISHMENT OF CRITERIA. The following 1-12 agencies by rule shall establish a uniform set of criteria for 1-13 evaluating the effectiveness of a drug abuse prevention program 1-14 that receives grant funding from the agency: 1-15 (1) Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse; 1-16 (2) Texas Juvenile Probation Commission; 1-17 (3) Texas Youth Commission; and 1-18 (4) Department of Protective and Regulatory Services. 1-19 SECTION 2. EVALUATION OF PROGRAM EFFECTIVENESS. The 1-20 agencies listed in Section 1 of this Act shall develop the criteria 1-21 in cooperation with other state agencies that provide grants to 1-22 drug abuse prevention programs. As a measure of a program's 1-23 effectiveness, the criteria developed must evaluate whether a 1-24 program is: 1-25 (1) targeting problems that are specific to a given 1-26 community or school; 1-27 (2) providing social services to children who have a 1-28 family member with a drug addiction; 1-29 (3) using strategies that are appropriate for children 1-30 of different ages; and 1-31 (4) providing continuity in services and intervention 1-32 strategies for all grade levels. 1-33 SECTION 3. RULES; ANNUAL REPORT. A state agency that 1-34 provides a grant to fund a drug abuse prevention program shall 1-35 adopt rules for evaluating the effectiveness of the program that 1-36 incorporate the criteria developed under Section 2 of this Act. 1-37 The agency by rule shall require the program to submit to the 1-38 agency an annual report that describes the program's effectiveness 1-39 in meeting the established criteria. 1-40 SECTION 4. EMERGENCY. The importance of this legislation 1-41 and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 1-42 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 1-43 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 1-44 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 1-45 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 1-46 passage, and it is so enacted. 1-47 * * * * *