BILL ANALYSIS

Senate Research Center	H.B. 1188
	By: Manuel et al. (Zaffirini)
	Education K-16
	5/2/2025
	Engrossed

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

School districts begin transition planning at age 14 for students receiving special education services, but this process does not ensure referrals to local intellectual and developmental disability authorities (LIDDAs) or Medicaid waiver programs. As a result, families often miss years of available services, and lengthy Medicaid waiver waitlists leave many without critical support.

H.B. 1188 would require school districts to refer eligible students to a LIDDA as soon as they are identified, rather than waiting until transition planning begins. By accelerating referrals, families gain earlier access to essential services, improving long-term outcomes for students with disabilities in education, employment, and independent living.

H.B. 1188 amends current law relating to the provision of information regarding a local intellectual and developmental disability authority to the parents or guardians of certain special education students.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Authorizes this Act to be referred to as the Caytlin Handley Act.

SECTION 2. Amends Subchapter A, Chapter 29, Education Code, by adding Section 29.030, as follows:

Sec. 29.030. PROVISION OF INFORMATION REGARDING LOCAL INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY AUTHORITY. (a) Requires a school district, at the first individualized education program committee meeting during which a student's individualized education program is developed under Section 29.005 (Individualized Education Program), to provide the parent or legal guardian of a student who has an intellectual disability or a developmental delay with information about services and public benefits provided by the local intellectual and developmental disability authority that serves the county in which the student resides, including services under waiver programs established under Section 1915(c), Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Section 1396n(c)).

(b) Requires the Texas Education Agency, in collaboration with the Health and Human Services Commission, to develop informational materials that include the information described by Subsection (a) and make those materials available for use by school districts.

SECTION 3. Provides that this Act applies beginning with the 2025�2026 school year.

SECTION 4. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2025.