1-1     By:  Naishtat (Senate Sponsor - Zaffirini)             H.B. No. 477
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 2, 2001;
 1-3     April 3, 2001, read first time and referred to Committee on Health
 1-4     and Human Services; April 23, 2001, reported favorably by the
 1-5     following vote:  Yeas 5, Nays 0; April 23, 2001, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the establishment of an interagency plan for
 1-9     coordinating case management services for certain recipients of
1-10     financial assistance.
1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 31, Human Resources Code,
1-13     is amended by adding Section 31.0128 to read as follows:
1-14           Sec. 31.0128.  COORDINATED INTERAGENCY PLAN. (a)  The
1-15     department and the Texas Workforce Commission shall jointly develop
1-16     and adopt a memorandum of understanding, subject to the approval of
1-17     the Health and Human Services Commission.  The memorandum of
1-18     understanding must establish guidelines for a coordinated
1-19     interagency case management plan to:
1-20                 (1)  identify each recipient of financial assistance
1-21     who has, in comparison to other recipients, higher levels of
1-22     barriers to employment; and
1-23                 (2)  provide coordinated services that address those
1-24     barriers to assist the recipient in finding and retaining
1-25     employment.
1-26           (b)  The department and the Texas Workforce Commission shall:
1-27                 (1)  jointly develop and adopt a memorandum of
1-28     understanding, subject to the approval of the Health and Human
1-29     Services Commission, that establishes a coordinated interagency
1-30     case management plan consistent with the guidelines established
1-31     under Subsection (a); and
1-32                 (2)  using existing resources, by rule implement the
1-33     plan to the maximum extent possible through local department and
1-34     commission offices in local workforce development areas in which a
1-35     local workforce development board is not established.
1-36           (c)  Each agency by rule shall adopt the memoranda of
1-37     understanding required by this section and all revisions to the
1-38     memoranda.
1-39           (d)  In a local workforce development area in which a local
1-40     workforce development board is established, the Texas Workforce
1-41     Commission shall require in the commission's contract with the
1-42     board that the board, in cooperation with local department offices,
1-43     develop and implement a coordinated interagency case management
1-44     plan consistent with the guidelines established under Subsection
1-45     (a).
1-46           SECTION 2. Not later than January 1, 2002, the Texas
1-47     Department of Human Services and the Texas Workforce Commission
1-48     shall adopt the memoranda of understanding required by Section
1-49     31.0128, Human Resources Code, as added by this Act, and implement
1-50     by rule to the maximum extent possible the interagency case
1-51     management plan required by Section 31.0128(b), Human Resources
1-52     Code, as added by this Act.
1-53           SECTION 3.  Not later than December 1, 2002, the Texas
1-54     Department of Human Services and the Texas Workforce Commission
1-55     shall jointly prepare and submit to the legislature a report
1-56     regarding any changes in the law necessary to implement the
1-57     interagency case management plan required by Section 31.0128, Human
1-58     Resources Code, as added by this Act.
1-59           SECTION 4.  The change in law made by Section 31.0128(d),
1-60     Human Resources Code, as added by this Act, applies only to a
1-61     contract or other agreement between the Texas Workforce Commission
1-62     and a local workforce development board entered into on or after
1-63     September 1, 2001.  A contract or agreement entered into before
1-64     that date is governed by the law in effect on the date the contract
 2-1     or agreement was entered into, and the former law is continued in
 2-2     effect for that purpose.
 2-3           SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
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