78R3250 KEG-D
By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 1246
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the initial placement of certain children in
institutions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 531.162, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 531.162. PERMANENCY REPORTING. (a) For each of the
local permanency planning sites, the commission shall develop a
reporting system under which each appropriate health and human
services agency responsible for permanency planning under this
subchapter is required to provide to the commission semiannually:
(1) the number of permanency plans developed by the
agency for children residing in institutions or children at risk of
being placed in institutions;
(2) progress achieved in implementing permanency
plans;
(3) the number of children served by the agency
residing in institutions;
(4) the number of children served by the agency at risk
of being placed in an institution served by the local permanency
planning sites;
(5) the number of children served by the agency
reunited with their families or placed with alternate permanent
families; [and]
(6) cost data related to the development and
implementation of permanency plans; and
(7) information on each child initially placed in an
institution during the reporting period, including:
(A) the reason for the child's placement in the
institution;
(B) a description of efforts made to locate
community-based services to prevent the institutional placement of
the child;
(C) a list of the barriers that impeded a
family–based alternative placement for the child; and
(D) a list of community-based services that,
because of their unavailability, contributed to the institutional
placement of the child.
(b) The commissioner shall submit a semiannual report to the
governor and the committees of each house of the legislature that
have primary oversight jurisdiction over health and human services
agencies regarding:
(1) the number of children residing in institutions in
this state and, of those children, the number for whom a
recommendation has been made for a transition to a community-based
residence but who have not yet made that transition;
(2) the circumstances of each child described by
Subdivision (1), including the type of institution and name of the
institution in which the child resides, the child's age, the
residence of the child's parents or guardians, and the length of
time in which the child has resided in the institution;
(3) the number of permanency plans developed for
children residing in institutions in this state, the progress
achieved in implementing those plans, and barriers to implementing
those plans;
(4) the number of children who previously resided in
an institution in this state and have made the transition to a
community-based residence;
(5) the number of children who previously resided in
an institution in this state and have been reunited with their
families or placed with alternate families;
(6) the community supports that resulted in the
successful placement of children described by Subdivision (5) with
alternate families; [and]
(7) the community supports that are unavailable but
necessary to address the needs of children who continue to reside in
an institution in this state after being recommended to make a
transition from the institution to an alternate family or
community-based residence; and
(8) for each child initially placed in an institution
during the period covered by the report, the information provided
to the commission under Subsection (a)(7).
SECTION 2. Subchapter D, Chapter 531, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 531.164 to read as follows:
Sec. 531.164. PLAN ON LIMITING INITIAL PLACEMENTS OF
CHILDREN IN INSTITUTIONS; ADVISORY COMMITTEE. (a) The
commission, with the advice and assistance of an advisory committee
appointed under this section, shall develop a plan to limit the
initial placements of children in institutions based on factors
such as developmental urgency and the child's medical needs.
(b) Consistent with the policy stated in Section 531.152,
the plan developed under this section must:
(1) ensure that every effort is made to avoid placing
children in institutions;
(2) provide alternatives to the institutionalization
of children; and
(3) encourage the use of appropriate alternative
placements of children.
(c) The commissioner shall appoint an advisory committee to
assist the commission in developing the plan under this section.
The commissioner shall appoint as members of the committee:
(1) one representative of the commission;
(2) one representative of the Department of Protective
and Regulatory Services;
(3) one representative of the Texas Department of
Health;
(4) one representative of the Texas Department of
Human Services;
(5) one representative of the Texas Department of
Mental Health and Mental Retardation;
(6) one person with expertise in developmental
pediatric medicine;
(7) one person with expertise in developmental
psychiatry or developmental psychology;
(8) one representative of disability advocacy
organizations;
(9) one representative of parents of children who are
physically or developmentally disabled or medically fragile;
(10) one person who is a relative of a consumer of
long–term care and health programs for children and who is a member
of the Children's Policy Council;
(11) one provider of institutional care for children;
and
(12) any other person with expertise in alternatives
to institutionalizing children that the commissioner determines
should be on the committee.
(d) An appointment to fill a vacancy on the advisory
committee must be made in the same manner as the original
appointment.
(e) The member of the advisory committee who is the
representative of the commission serves as presiding officer. The
members of the advisory committee shall elect any other necessary
officers.
(f) The advisory committee shall meet at the call of the
commissioner.
(g) A member of the advisory committee serves at the will of
the commissioner.
(h) The advisory committee is not subject to Chapter 2110.
(i) A member of the advisory committee who is not a state
employee is not entitled to compensation for serving on the
committee or reimbursement of the travel expenses incurred by the
member while conducting the business of the committee.
(j) A member of the advisory committee who is a state
employee and who serves on the committee in performing the member's
duties as a state employee is not entitled to additional
compensation for serving on the committee, but is entitled to
reimbursement of travel expenses incurred by the member while
conducting the business of the committee if the reimbursement is
otherwise available to the member as a state employee.
SECTION 3. (a) The commissioner of health and human
services shall appoint the members of the advisory committee on
limiting placements of children in institutions as required by
Section 531.164, Government Code, as added by this Act, not later
than December 1, 2003.
(b) The commissioner of health and human services shall call
the first meeting of the advisory committee on limiting placements
of children in institutions established under Section 531.164,
Government Code, as added by this Act, not later than January 1,
2004.
SECTION 4. Section 531.162, Government Code, as amended by
this Act, applies only to a child who is initially placed in an
institution on or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 5. 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 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.