BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 1965

By: Kolkhorst

Public Health

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Interested parties report that recent legislative action that expanded faith-based and community-based services in Texas has greatly enhanced the ability of faith-based and community-based organizations to form partnerships with state agencies while more effectively meeting the social service needs of Texans, and the parties further report that those efforts have been cited by other states and organizations as a model of collaboration between state government and the nonprofit sector. A task force focusing on strengthening nonprofit capacity, created by the same legislation, recently gathered feedback from nonprofits across the state on ways to help strengthen the nonprofit sector in Texas and reported its findings to the Texas Legislature.

H.B. 1965 seeks to implement certain findings of that task force relating to the expansion of faith- and community-based health and human services initiatives.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 1965 amends the Government Code to expand the list of agencies that are required to designate one employee of the agency as a liaison for faith- and community-based organizations to include the office of the governor, the Department of Public Safety, the Texas Department of Insurance, the Public Utility Commission of Texas, the office of the attorney general, the Department of Agriculture, the office of the comptroller of public accounts, the Department of Information Resources, the Office of State-Federal Relations, and the office of the secretary of state and makes a nonsubstantive change. The bill requires the commissioner of higher education, in consultation with the presiding officer of the interagency coordinating group for faith-based and community-based initiatives, to designate one employee from an institution of higher education to serve as a liaison for faith- and community-based organizations.

H.B. 1965 requires the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to provide administrative support to the interagency coordinating group and makes the liaison from the State Commission on National and Community Service, rather than the HHSC employee designated as a faith- and community-based liaison, the presiding officer of the interagency coordinating group. The bill provides that the liaison from the governor's office is the presiding officer of the interagency coordinating group if the State Commission on National and Community Service is abolished. The bill requires the interagency coordinating group to submit a report to the legislature, not later than December 1 of each year, that describes in detail the activities, goals, and progress of the interagency coordinating group and requires the report to be made available to the public through posting on the office of the governor's Internet website. The bill removes a provision establishing individual reporting requirements for an employee who is designated as a faith- and community-based liaison and makes a conforming change related to those reports.

H.B. 1965 adds a temporary provision, set to expire September 1, 2013, to establish the interagency coordinating group task force to help direct the interagency coordinating group in carrying out the group's duties. The bill requires the interagency coordinating group, in coordination with the task force and in addition to the group's other duties, to develop and implement a plan for improving contracting relationships between state agencies and faith- and community-based organizations, develop best practices for cooperating and collaborating with faith- and community-based organizations, identify and address duplication of services provided by the state and faith- and community-based organizations, and identify and address gaps in state services that faith- and community-based organizations could fill. The bill requires HHSC to provide administrative support to the task force. The bill sets out provisions relating to the composition of the task force and requires the executive commissioner of HHSC, in consultation with the presiding officer of the interagency coordinating group, to appoint members to the task force not later than October 1, 2011. The bill requires the task force to prepare a report describing actions taken or not taken by the interagency coordinating group under the bill's provisions relating to the task force and to include in the report any recommendations relating to legislation necessary to address an issue identified by the group. The bill requires the task force to present the report to the House Committee on Human Services, the House Committee on Public Health, and the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, or the appropriate successor committees, not later than September 1, 2012.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2011.