By: Johnson of Harris, Lopez, Frank H.B. No. 700
        (Senate Sponsor - Zaffirini)
         (In the Senate - Received from the House May 10, 2021;
  May 11, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on Health &
  Human Services; May 21, 2021, reported favorably by the following
  vote:  Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 21, 2021, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the eligibility of foster children to receive college
  credit for completing the Preparation for Adult Living Program.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 264.121(a-6), Family Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (a-6)  The department, in coordination with the Texas Higher
  Education Coordinating Board [stakeholders], shall establish a
  work group to develop a plan to ensure that foster youth who
  complete [standardize] the standardized curriculum for the
  Preparation for Adult Living Program are eligible to receive
  college credit for completing the program. The work group must
  include representatives from urban and rural institutions of higher
  education, as defined by Section 61.003, Education Code. In
  developing its evidence-based recommendations, the work group
  shall consider the feasibility of implementing each
  recommendation, a foster youth's access to the Preparation for
  Adult Living Program, and the average length of time a foster youth
  will remain in a placement [that ensures that youth 14 years of age
  or older enrolled in the program receive relevant and
  age-appropriate information and training]. The department shall
  report the plan to the legislature not later than November
  [December] 1, 2022 [2018]. This subsection expires September 1,
  2023.
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
 
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