BILL ANALYSIS |
|
C.S.H.B. 2360 |
|
By: Thompson, Senfronia |
|
Human Services |
|
Committee Report (Substituted) |
|
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Interested parties note that the unique physical, emotional, and mental issues faced by children who are victims of child sex trafficking require comprehensive rehabilitative and residential services and that regulatory licensing plays an important role in maintaining the quality of services provided to these children. The parties contend that, though recent legislation required the adoption of minimum standards for general residential operations providing comprehensive residential services to victims of trafficking, residential models serving this population, such as boarding schools, are not subject to existing minimum standards. C.S.H.B. 2360 seeks to ensure that programs providing comprehensive services to victims of trafficking are subject to the minimum standards of care.
|
||||||
|
CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
|
||||||
|
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
C.S.H.B. 2360 amends the Human Resources Code to require a residential educational facility accredited by an accreditation body that is a member of the Texas Private School Accreditation Commission and operating primarily for educational purposes for prekindergarten and above to comply with child-care facility or child-placing agency licensing requirements of the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) and all DFPS rules and minimum standards applicable to general residential operations that provide services to persons who are victims of human trafficking if at any point during the academic year more than either 25 children at the facility or 30 percent of the children at the facility are victims of human trafficking and the facility provides or intends to provide specialized services designed to treat and support trafficking victims in addition to providing basic child-care services.
|
||||||
|
EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2015.
|
||||||
|
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 2360 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
|
||||||
|