SRC-CTC H.B. 477 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Senate Research Center H.B. 477 77R6993 KLA-DBy: Naishtat (Zaffirini) Health & Human Services 4/11/2001 Engrossed DIGEST AND PURPOSE The Texas Department of Human Services indicates that its financial aid caseloads have declined from 255,294 in August 1995 to 119,350 in August 2000. This reduction can be attributed to state and federal laws that made welfare a time-limited benefit with work requirements. The clients who have been more successful at transitioning into the workplace are primarily those who need minimal services. The remaining client population includes those whose inadequate skills and personal hardships inhibit success in the workplace. This segment of the population requires more intensive case management and workforce services to become self-sufficient. H.B. 477 requires the Texas Department of Human Services and the Texas Workforce Commission to develop an interagency plan to identify clients with higher levels of barriers to employment and provide them with coordinated services to address barriers and transition into the workplace. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY Rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Department of Human Services and the Texas Workforce Commission in SECTION 1 (Section 31.0128, Human Resources Code) of this bill. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amend Chapter 31A, Human Resources Code, by adding Section 31.0128, as follows: Sec. 31.0128. COORDINATED INTERAGENCY PLAN. (a) Requires the Texas Department of Human Services (department) and the Texas Workforce Commission (commission) to jointly develop and adopt a memorandum of understanding, subject to the approval of the Health and Human Services Commission. Requires the memorandum of understanding to establish certain guidelines for a coordinated interagency management plan. (b) Requires the department and the commission to: _jointly develop and adopt a memorandum of understanding, subject to the approval of the Health and Human Services Commission, that establishes a coordinated interagency management plan consistent with the guidelines established under Subsection (a); and _implement, by rule and using existing resources, the plan to the maximum extent possible through local department and commission offices in local workforce development areas in which a local workforce development board is not established. (c) Requires each agency by rule to adopt the memoranda of understanding required by this section and all revisions to the memoranda. (d) Requires the commission, in a local workforce development area in which a local workforce development board (board) is established, to require in the commission's contract with the board that the board, in cooperation with local department offices, develop and implement a coordinated interagency case management plan consistent with the guidelines established under Subsection (a). SECTION 2. Requires the department and the commission, not later than January 1, 2002, to adopt the memorandum of understanding required by Section 31.0128, Human Resources Code, as added by this Act, and implement by rule to the maximum extent possible the interagency case management plan required by Section 31.0128(b), Human Resources Code, as added by this Act. SECTION 3. Requires the department and the commission, not later than December 1, 2002, to jointly prepare and submit to the legislature a report regarding any changes in the law necessary to implement the interagency case management plan required by Section 31.0128. Human Resources Code, as added by this Act. SECTION 4. Makes application of this Act prospective. SECTION 5. Effective date: September 1, 2001.