81R3978 GCB-D
By: Naishtat H.B. No. 1454
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the establishment of a volunteer-supported
decision-making advocate pilot program for persons with
intellectual and developmental disabilities and persons with other
cognitive disabilities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 531.02446 to read as follows:
Sec. 531.02446. VOLUNTEER-SUPPORTED DECISION-MAKING
ADVOCATE PILOT PROGRAM. (a) In this section:
(1) "Peer-to-peer services training" means training
conducted by and for persons with intellectual and developmental
disabilities and persons with other cognitive disabilities on how
to advocate for their own rights and interests.
(2) "Pilot program" means a volunteer-supported
decision-making advocate pilot program established under this
section.
(3) "Self-advocacy organization" means a nonprofit
organization run by and for persons with disabilities that provides
training to its members and other self-advocacy organizations on
self-advocacy, self-determination, and person-centered planning.
(4) "State school" has the meaning assigned by Section
531.002, Health and Safety Code.
(5) "Supported decision-making services" means
services provided for the purpose of supporting a person with
intellectual and developmental disabilities or a person with other
cognitive disabilities to enable the person to make life decisions
such as where the person wants to live, who the person wants to live
with, and where the person wants to work, without impeding the
self-determination of the person.
(b) The commission shall create a pilot program to promote
the provision of supported decision-making services to persons with
intellectual and developmental disabilities and persons with other
cognitive disabilities. The commission shall select at least one
rural community and at least one urban community in which to
implement the program. The commission shall convene a work group to
develop the rules and structure of the pilot program. The work
group must consist of family members of, and advocates for, persons
with intellectual and developmental disabilities and persons with
other cognitive disabilities, and of other persons interested in
promoting supported decision-making services. The work group must
include at least one representative of a self-advocacy organization
and at least one self-advocate.
(c) The commission shall contract with one or more entities
to administer the pilot program and to recruit and train volunteer
advocates to provide supported decision-making services. The pilot
program may be created or administered by a nonprofit organization,
a self-advocacy organization, or a local mental retardation
authority or a collaboration of any of those types of entities.
(d) The commission shall award a contract to an entity or
collaboration of entities described by Subsection (c) that
demonstrates:
(1) a commitment to:
(A) a philosophy of self-determination in
providing supported decision-making services;
(B) providing peer-to-peer services training;
(C) person-centered planning; and
(D) preserving the rights provided by federal and
state law of persons with intellectual and developmental
disabilities and persons with other cognitive disabilities; and
(2) the ability to provide supported decision-making
services to assist persons with intellectual and developmental
disabilities and persons with other cognitive disabilities in
understanding their personal options, support options,
opportunities, and responsibilities to help the person remain as
independent as possible.
(e) The commission shall ensure that the pilot program
provides supported decision-making services to persons living in
the community and persons living in an institutional setting. The
pilot program in at least one site must serve residents of a state
school, especially residents who have expressed a desire to leave
the state school and do not have a guardian.
(f) The executive commissioner by rule shall prescribe the
criteria a contractor must use in evaluating the effectiveness of
supported decision-making services provided by the pilot program.
The criteria must be similar to the National Core Indicators
promulgated by the Human Services Research Institute.
(g) Before each regular session of the legislature, the
commission shall publish a report that includes:
(1) an evaluation of the effectiveness of the pilot
program under the criteria established under Subsection (f);
(2) recommendations for changes to improve the
operation of the pilot program; and
(3) a recommendation to continue, expand, or eliminate
the pilot program.
(h) This section expires September 1, 2013.
SECTION 2. Not later than January 1, 2010, the executive
commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission shall
appoint persons to a pilot program work group as required under
Section 531.02446(b), Government Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2009.