| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the eligibility of a person to serve as and receive |
|
|
monetary assistance for serving as a relative or other designated |
|
|
caregiver. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 264.754, Family Code, is amended to read |
|
|
as follows: |
|
|
Sec. 264.754. INVESTIGATION OF PROPOSED PLACEMENT. (a) |
|
|
Before placing a child with a proposed relative or other designated |
|
|
caregiver, the department must conduct an investigation to |
|
|
determine whether the proposed placement is in the child's best |
|
|
interest. |
|
|
(b) The department may not disqualify a person from serving |
|
|
as a relative or other designated caregiver for a child on the basis |
|
|
that the proposed caregiver has been convicted of a nonviolent |
|
|
criminal offense, if the department determines that placing the |
|
|
child with the person is otherwise in the child's best interest. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 264.755, Family Code, is amended by |
|
|
adding Subsection (f) to read as follows: |
|
|
(f) In determining a family's need for monetary assistance, |
|
|
the department shall exclude from a caregiver's available |
|
|
resources: |
|
|
(1) real property owned by the caregiver that is |
|
|
homestead property; and |
|
|
(2) the fair market value of the caregiver's ownership |
|
|
interest in a motor vehicle, but not more than $5,000 plus or minus |
|
|
an amount to be determined annually beginning on October 1, 2017, to |
|
|
reflect changes in the new car component of the Consumer Price Index |
|
|
for All Urban Consumers published by the Bureau of Labor |
|
|
Statistics. |
|
|
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, 2017. |