BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 1109

By: Swanson

Human Services

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

There have been calls to ease the burden on foster parents by providing a way for the foster parent to be exempt from certain training requirements that are not directly related to the foster child for which the parent is providing care, such as required training in infant care when the foster child in question is a teenager. C.S.H.B. 1109 seeks to provide for the waiving of those training requirements.

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 rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission in SECTION 1 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 1109 amends the Human Resources Code to require the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) by rule to grant to each child-placing agency and each single source continuum contractor the authority to waive certain minimum standards related to preservice training, annual training, or other requirements that are not directly related to caring for the child for the child's foster or prospective adoptive parent or for foster homes that have no citations or violations reported to HHSC.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 1109 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute does not require the executive commissioner to create a procedure to allow a foster child's caseworker to waive certain annual training requirements for the child's foster parent. The substitute requires the executive commissioner instead to grant to each child-placing agency and each single source continuum contractor the authority to waive certain minimum standards for the child's foster or prospective adoptive parents or for foster homes with no reported citations or violations.