BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 1130

By: West

Human Services

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Research indicates family situations that include an involved father are linked to better outcomes regarding most measures of a child's well-being. Additionally, the involvement of a father with his child can result in healthier connections between the father and child, which serve as a protective factor against maltreatment. There have been calls for the state to do more to ensure that fathers are engaged with their children and to promote better outcomes for families with such fathers. S.B. 1130 seeks to answer these calls by establishing a task force on father engagement.

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

S.B. 1130 amends the Family Code to establish the task force on father engagement to:

· evaluate services and supports available to fathers in Texas;

· study the impact of father engagement on children, families, and communities in Texas; and

· develop a statewide plan for expanding services and supports available to fathers and other strategies to strengthen father engagement in Texas.

The bill requires the governor to determine the number of members of the task force, sets out the task force's composition, requires the governor to designate a member of the task force as the task force's presiding officer, and requires the governor, the speaker of the house of representatives, and the lieutenant governor to appoint specified members of the task force in accordance with the bill's provisions. The bill provides for the filling of a vacancy on the task force, prohibits task force members from being compensated or reimbursed, and requires the task force to meet at the call of the presiding officer.

S.B. 1130 requires the task force to do the following:

· receive reports and testimony from individuals, state and local governmental agencies, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, policy experts, public and private institutions of higher education, and other public and private entities regarding father engagement and evidence-based father education programs;

· study the social and economic impact of father engagement on children, including in regard to health care, education, child support, child welfare, and the juvenile justice system;

· identify and develop strategies to address barriers to father engagement and to otherwise strengthen father engagement in Texas; and

· prepare a report including a description of its activities, findings, and recommendations for proposed legislation and a statewide plan to expand services and supports to fathers in Texas and provide a copy of the report not later than September 1, 2020, to specified state and legislative officers.

The bill requires the Department of Family and Protective Services to provide reasonably necessary administrative and technical support to the task force. The bill exempts the task force from Government Code provisions relating to state agency advisory committees. The task force is abolished and the bill's provisions expire September 1, 2021.  

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.