78R7270 KKA-D

By:  Christian                                                    H.B. No. 1596



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to a requirement that recipients of public assistance 
enroll dependent children in a public health care program.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.   Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is 
amended by adding Section 531.063 to read as follows:
	Sec. 531.063.  ENROLLMENT OF CHILDREN IN PUBLIC HEALTH CARE 
PROGRAMS. (a)  In this section, "public health care program" 
includes the Medicaid program and the state child health plan 
program created under Chapter 62, Health and Safety Code.
	(b)  The commission shall adopt rules requiring a person 
receiving public assistance under a program administered by the 
commission or a health and human services agency, as a condition of 
receiving that assistance, to enroll each of the person's dependent 
children in any public health care program for which the child is 
eligible.
	(c)  In implementing the rules adopted under this section, 
the commission or the appropriate health and human services agency 
must:
		(1)  identify any public health care program in which a 
person is required to enroll a child; and
		(2)  assist the person with the procedures required to 
enroll the child in the identified program.
	(d)  The rules adopted under this section must include 
procedures under which the commission or the appropriate health and 
human services agency may exempt a person from the rules for good 
cause.  For purposes of this subsection, a person's inability to pay 
any cost associated with enrollment in a public health care program 
must be considered good cause for an exemption.
	SECTION 2.   If before implementing any provision of this Act 
a state agency determines that a waiver or authorization from a 
federal agency is necessary for implementation of that provision, 
the agency affected by the provision shall request the waiver or 
authorization and may delay implementing that provision until the 
waiver or authorization is granted.
	SECTION 3.   This Act takes effect September 1, 2003, and 
applies to a person who receives public assistance from the Health 
and Human Services Commission or a health and human services agency 
on or after that date, regardless of the date on which eligibility 
for that assistance was determined.