BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.H.B. 2365 |
By: Romero, Jr. |
Urban Affairs |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Interested parties contend that additional oversight of housing for migrant agricultural workers is needed to ensure that the housing is safe and clean. C.S.H.B. 2365 seeks to address this need by expanding oversight of migrant labor housing facilities.
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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.
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RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs in SECTIONS 7, 8, 9, and 12 of this bill.
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ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 2365 amends the Government Code to prohibit a person from procuring, making arrangements for, or otherwise providing housing for migrant agricultural workers without ensuring that the applicable migrant labor housing facility is licensed by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA). The bill removes the requirement that the governing board of the TDHCA set the fee for a migrant labor housing facility license in an amount not to exceed $250 and instead specifies that the license fee is in an amount established by board rule. The bill requires the fee to be deposited to the credit of the general revenue fund and authorizes the appropriation of the fee to the TDHCA for the enforcement of migrant labor housing facilities provisions. The bill revises provisions relating to a migrant labor housing facility for which a license application is made but does not meet reasonable minimum standards of construction, sanitation, equipment, and operation and shortens the period within which an applicant may request the TDHCA to reinspect the facility.
C.S.H.B. 2365 requires the TDHCA to give notice of the expiration of a migrant labor housing facility license to the license holder not later than the 60th day before the date the license is scheduled to expire. The bill requires the TDHCA by rule to adopt procedures through which third parties may appeal the issuance or denial of a license or the imposition of a condition on a license. The bill requires a person who holds a license to post in the licensed migrant labor housing facility at all times during the maintenance or operation of the facility a copy of information describing in English and Spanish the complaint procedures applicable to such a facility.
C.S.H.B. 2365 requires an authorized representative of the TDHCA, before conducting an inspection of a migrant labor housing facility, to give or make a reasonable attempt to give notice to the persons who are the providers of the facility, based on evidence available to the TDHCA and, who are alleged to be the providers of the facility in any applicable complaint and makes related changes, if applicable. The bill requires an authorized representative of the TDHCA, after giving or making a reasonable attempt to give such notice, to inspect the facility on receipt of a complaint, including a report of an unlicensed facility, and at least once during the probable period of use of the facility as stated in the license application. The bill requires the inspector, during such an inspection, to conduct interviews with not less than 10 percent of the occupants of the facility, make written notes regarding the inspection at the time of the inspection or immediately after the inspection, and take photographs of any violations. The bill requires an interview with a facility occupant to be conducted after working hours or on rest days, to the extent possible, and out of the presence of any person who owns or establishes or who maintains, operates, or otherwise provides the migrant labor housing facility or any person who employs the migrant agricultural workers occupying the facility. The bill requires the TDHCA by rule to establish an annual quota of proactive inspections of suspected unlicensed or noncompliant migrant labor housing facilities and clarifies that this requirement is in addition to the required inspections. The bill prohibits the quota from being less than 50 percent of the number of migrant labor housing facilities licensed in the preceding state fiscal year. The bill requires an inspector, after an inspection of a migrant labor housing facility, to submit to the TDHCA a report containing a narrative regarding the alleged violation and the methods used to investigate the alleged violation, a determination of whether the alleged violation or any other violation exists, and evidence supporting the determination. The bill requires the report to be made available to the public on the TDHCA website and requires the TDHCA to redact each migrant agricultural worker’s name and other personal information contained in the report. The bill requires the TDHCA by rule to establish and require the use of a standardized inspection report form for conducting inspections.
C.S.H.B. 2365 requires the TDHCA by rule to establish procedures for the submission, investigation, and resolution of complaints of alleged violations of provisions governing migrant labor housing facilities and to adopt a standardized complaint form. The bill requires the procedure to allow the submission of complaints anonymously or by a third party and to allow the submission of complaints through the TDHCA website, in person at any nonprofit organization that assists migrant agricultural workers in finding employment or at any state agency, by phone, or in writing. The bill requires the standardized complaint form to allow for the collection of certain specified information. The bill requires the TDHCA to consider a report regarding an unlicensed migrant labor housing facility to be a complaint. The bill requires the TDHCA to make available to a person submitting a complaint, if the identity of that person is known, information regarding other housing and transportation resources available to the person. The bill requires the TDHCA by rule to establish procedures requiring the owner or provider of a migrant labor housing facility, on suspension or revocation of a migrant labor housing facility license, to relocate or provide for the relocation of the occupants of the facility to another facility that meets applicable occupancy standards and is located in the same area as the vacated facility. The bill requires an owner or provider required to relocate an occupant to pay any rental cost of the relocation facility that exceeds the rent of the vacated facility.
C.S.H.B. 2365 specifies that the minimum standards for issuing, revoking, or suspending a migrant labor housing facility license that the governing board of the TDHCA is required to adopt by rule include rules that provide for the immediate suspension or revocation of a license for certain violations that constitute threats to the health and safety of persons living in migrant labor housing facilities. The bill changes the amount of the civil penalty for a violation of provisions governing migrant labor housing facilities or a rule adopted under such provisions from $200 for each day that the violation occurs to a minimum of $50 for each person occupying the migrant labor housing facility in violation of those provisions for each day that the violation occurs. The bill removes the requirement that the county attorney for the county in which a violation occurred, or the attorney general, at the request of the TDHCA, bring an action in the name of the state to collect the penalty. The bill instead authorizes an action to collect a penalty to be brought by the TDHCA through a prescribed contested case hearing process; by the county attorney for the county in which the violation occurred, or the attorney general, at the request of the TDHCA; or by a migrant agricultural worker who, at the time of the violation, lived in the migrant labor housing facility that is the subject of the violation. The bill requires the TDHCA by rule to adopt a penalty schedule that increases the amount of the penalty assessed against a person who repeatedly violates provisions governing migrant labor housing facilities or rules adopted under such provisions. The bill requires a penalty collected through an action brought by the TDHCA, a county attorney, or the attorney general to be deposited to the credit of the general revenue fund and restricts appropriation of the penalty to the TDHCA for the enforcement of provisions governing migrant labor housing facilities. The bill makes a person against whom a civil penalty is assessed liable for paying the costs and attorney's fees of the person who brought the action.
C.S.H.B. 2365 prohibits a person who owns, establishes, maintains, operates, procures, makes arrangements for, or otherwise provides a migrant labor housing facility, a person who employs a migrant agricultural worker who occupies a migrant labor housing facility, or a farm labor contractor from retaliating against a person for filing a complaint or providing information in good faith relating to a possible violation of provisions governing migrant labor housing facilities. The bill provides for outreach and education by the TDHCA regarding migrant labor housing facilities. The bill requires the TDHCA, not later than March 1, 2018, to adopt the rules necessary to implement the bill's provisions.
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EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2017.
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COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 2365 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.
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