BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.S.B. 1524

By: Middleton

Human Services

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The bill sponsor has informed the committee that it is important for the state to encourage families to foster children and that one way of doing so is to remove any unnecessary roadblocks that may prevent families from exercising their constitutional rights responsibly. C.S.S.B. 1524 seeks to ensure that agency foster homes will not be required to provide a list of firearms present in the home and that any information about such firearms will not be used against them by the state or by a child-placing agency.

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

C.S.S.B. 1524 amends the Human Resources Code to do the following:

· prohibit the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), and a child-placing agency that contracts with DFPS from requiring an agency foster home to disclose the specific types of firearms that are present in the home or to notify the child-placing agency if there is any change in the types of firearms that are present in the home;

· prohibit HHSC, DFPS, and the child-placing agency from using any information it has or obtains relating to the types of firearms that are present in an agency foster home for any purpose other than determining whether there are firearms present in the home;

· make a child-placing agency that uses information in violation of that prohibition liable to the state for a civil penalty in an amount capped at $5,000 for each violation;

· authorize the attorney general to bring an action to recover such a civil penalty; and

· make confidential and exempt from disclosure under state public information law information relating to the types of firearms that are present in an agency foster home.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.

COMPARISON OF SENATE ENGROSSED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.S.B. 1524 may differ from the engrossed in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the engrossed and committee substitute versions of the bill.

Whereas the engrossed version's provisions applied to information relating to the types of weapons, including firearms, that are present in an agency foster home, the substitute version's provisions apply to information relating to the types of firearms that are present in an agency foster home.