By Zaffirini                                           S.B. No. 167
         77R2161 KLA-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the establishment of an interagency plan for
 1-3     coordinating case management services for certain recipients of
 1-4     financial assistance.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 31, Human Resources Code,
 1-7     is amended by adding Section 31.0128 to read as follows:
 1-8           Sec. 31.0128.  COORDINATED INTERAGENCY PLAN. (a)  The
 1-9     department and the Texas Workforce Commission shall jointly develop
1-10     and adopt a memorandum of understanding, subject to the approval of
1-11     the Health and Human Services Commission.  The memorandum of
1-12     understanding must establish guidelines for a coordinated
1-13     interagency case management plan to:
1-14                 (1)  identify each recipient of financial assistance
1-15     who has, in comparison to other recipients, higher levels of
1-16     barriers to employment; and
1-17                 (2)  provide coordinated services that address those
1-18     barriers to assist the recipient in finding and retaining
1-19     employment.
1-20           (b)  The department and the Texas Workforce Commission shall:
1-21                 (1)  jointly develop and adopt a memorandum of
1-22     understanding, subject to the approval of the Health and Human
1-23     Services Commission, that establishes a coordinated interagency
1-24     case management plan consistent with the guidelines established
 2-1     under Subsection (a); and
 2-2                 (2)  implement the plan through local department and
 2-3     commission offices in local workforce development areas in which a
 2-4     local workforce development board is not established.
 2-5           (c)  Each agency by rule shall adopt the memoranda of
 2-6     understanding required by this section and all revisions to the
 2-7     memoranda.
 2-8           (d)  In a local workforce development area in which a local
 2-9     workforce development board is established, the Texas Workforce
2-10     Commission shall require in the commission's contract with the
2-11     board that the board, in cooperation with local department offices,
2-12     develop and implement a coordinated interagency case management
2-13     plan consistent with the guidelines established under Subsection
2-14     (a).
2-15           SECTION 2. Not later than January 1, 2002, the Texas
2-16     Department of Human Services and the Texas Workforce Commission
2-17     shall adopt the memoranda of understanding required by Section
2-18     31.0128, Human Resources Code, as added by this Act, and implement
2-19     the interagency case management plan required by Section
2-20     31.0128(b), Human Resources Code, as added by this Act.
2-21           SECTION 3.  The change in law made by Section 31.0128(d),
2-22     Human Resources Code, as added by this Act, applies only to a
2-23     contract or other agreement between the Texas Workforce Commission
2-24     and a local workforce development board entered into on or after
2-25     September 1, 2001.  A contract or agreement entered into before
2-26     that date is governed by the law in effect on the date the contract
2-27     or agreement was entered into, and the former law is continued in
 3-1     effect for that purpose.
 3-2           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.