| TO: | Honorable Richard Peña Raymond, Chair, House Committee On Human Services |
| FROM: | Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB1098 by Zerwas (Relating to family cost share provisions in the early childhood intervention program.), As Introduced |
The bill would implement the recommendations in the report, "Improve the Cost-Effectiveness of Family Cost Share Provisions in the Early Childhood Intervention Program," in the Legislative Budget Board's Government Effectiveness and Efficiency Report submitted to the Eighty-Third Texas Legislature, 2013.
The bill would amend the Human Resources Code to require the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) to collect data that would allow the agency to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of family cost-share provisions in the Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) program. Cost-effective means the family cost-share revenue generated is greater than total administrative costs. The bill would also require DARS to use the collected data to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of existing family cost-share provisions in the ECI program and to consider and implement any changes determined by the agency to improve cost-effectiveness. DARS would be required to report to the Governor and Legislative Budget Board not later than December 1, 2014 on the results of its analysis.
DARS reports that it could absorb the cost to collect data and evaluate the cost-effectiveness of family cost-share provisions within existing agency resources. Depending on the extent to which DARS implements changes to family cost-share provisions that improve their cost-effectiveness, the ECI program could potentially collect additional cost-share revenue which could be used to serve additional children or provide additional service hours.
| Source Agencies: | 538 Assistive and Rehabilitative Services, Department of
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| LBB Staff: | UP, CL, JI, DM
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