81R10992 GCB-D

By: Olivo H.B. No. 4695

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the collection and use of information relating to the investigation and prevention of abuse, neglect, and exploitation in certain facilities serving individuals with mental retardation in an electronic database.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is amended by adding Section 531.02446 to read as follows:

Sec. 531.02446. ABUSE, NEGLECT, AND EXPLOITATION PREVENTION DATABASE. (a) The Department of Aging and Disability Services and the Department of Family and Protective Services jointly shall develop and maintain an electronic database to collect and analyze information regarding the investigation and prevention of abuse, neglect, and exploitation of individuals with mental retardation who reside in a facility licensed under Chapter 252, Health and Safety Code, or in a group home or foster home at which a Home and Community-based Services (HCS) provider provides services.

(b) The information collected in the database regarding investigations must be detailed, easily retrievable, and include information relating to abuse, neglect, and exploitation investigations and regulatory investigations performed by the Department of Aging and Disability Services that may be sorted by home, provider, and facility. The information collected must allow the Department of Aging and Disability Services, in performing the department's regulatory function, to identify a home, provider, or facility that needs additional, intensive monitoring and inspection.

(c) The electronic database must facilitate the entry of the required information and the sharing of information between the departments. At a minimum, the database must include the following categories of information:

(1) the number of abuse, neglect, or exploitation allegations received; and

(2) the number of allegations relating to a facility or home substantiated through an investigation.

(d) Each allegation involving a unique individual in a facility or home is considered a separate violation for purposes of Subsection (c).

(e) The Department of Aging and Disability Services shall ensure that information related to findings concerning failure to comply with regulatory standards directly related to the prevention of abuse, neglect, and exploitation in a facility licensed under Chapter 252, Health and Safety Code, or a group or foster home at which a Home and Community-based Services (HCS) provider provides services is collected and stored in the database in a manner that can be sorted by home, provider, and facility.

(f) The Department of Aging and Disability Services shall maintain information in the database regarding the placement of individuals transferred from a state school during the previous 12 months. At a minimum, this information must include the individual's:

(1) severity of mental retardation;

(2) medical diagnosis and needs; and

(3) need for monitoring or attention to ensure the individual receives sufficient care.

(g) The Department of Aging and Disability Services and the Department of Family and Protective Services may not release or distribute information in the database in a form that contains personally identifiable information related to an individual in a facility or home or to a victim of abuse, neglect, or exploitation.

SECTION 2. As soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act, the Department of Aging and Disability Services and the Department of Family and Protective Services shall develop the database required by Section 531.02446, Government Code, as added by this Act.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2009.