By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 1559

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to an interagency plan to promote competitive and integrated employment for persons with disabilities.

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

SECTION 1. Chapter 121, Human Resources Code, is amended by adding Section 121.012 to read as follows:

Sec. 121.012. INTERAGENCY PLAN FOR COMPETITIVE AND INTEGRATED EMPLOYMENT OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES. (a) The comptroller, the Texas Education Agency, the Texas Workforce Commission, and the Health and Human Services Commission, in consultation with the Texas Council on Purchasing from People with Disabilities, shall work together to develop and implement an interagency plan designed to transition persons with disabilities out of environments in which persons with disabilities are segregated and receive wages that are less than minimum wage and into environments in which persons with disabilities receive competitive wages in integrated employment settings.

(b) Notwithstanding any other law, the plan established under this section must:

(1) establish a timeline as follows:

(A) not later than September 1, 2016:

(i) the Texas Education Agency shall adopt a plan to prohibit the future use of state funds for services provided by a local education agency in a environments in which persons with disabilities are segregated and receive wages that are less than minimum wage; and

(ii) the Comptroller shall adopt a plan to use revenue from the set-aside purchasing program administered by the Texas Council on Purchasing from People with Disabilities to convert environments in which persons with disabilities are segregated and receive wages that are less than minimum wage to individualized and community-based employment opportunities offering at least minimum wage;

(B) not later than September 1, 2017:

(i) each state agency shall ensure that all agency employees, including contract employees under set-aside contracts for persons with disabilities, receive minimum wage; and

(ii) the comptroller shall develop and implement policies that identify and remove barriers for state agencies to hire and retain persons with disabilities in integrated work environments at competitive wages; and

(C) not later than September 1, 2022, the Health and Human Services Commission shall adopt a plan to prohibit the use of state funds for programs offered in environments in which persons with disabilities are segregated and receive wages that are less than minimum wages;

(2) require the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services to conduct outreach to persons with disabilities in sheltered workshops to determine the services, reasonable accommodations, or assistive technology needed to increase the marketable job skills, productivity, and work options for persons with disabilities;

(3) require the Texas Education Agency to implement a plan that promotes community-based work skills, supports, and employment options to students with disabilities who are at least 14 years of age;

(4) establish financial assistance and incentives for employers that convert settings in which persons with disabilities are segregated and receive wages that are less than minimum wage into supported or integrated employment opportunities offering competitive wages; and

(5) require state agencies participating in the implementation of the plan to collect data in a manner that provides information that is useful in determining how to sustain, expand, and improve employment opportunities supported by the plan.

SECTION 2. Not later than January 1, 2016, the agencies described by Section 121.012, Human Resources Code, as added by this Act, shall develop the interagency plan required by that section. 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, 2015.