Texas 2009 - 81st Regular

Texas House Bill HB2860 Compare Versions

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1	1	81R25691 MCK-F
2	2	By: Dukes, Coleman, Turner of Harris H.B. No. 2860
3	3	Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2860:
4	4	By: Rose C.S.H.B. No. 2860
5	5
6	6
7	7	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
8	8	AN ACT
9	9	relating to financial assistance programs in connection with
10	10	certain children in the conservatorship of the Department of Family
11	11	and Protective Services.
12	12	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
13	13	SECTION 1. Section 162.3041, Family Code, is amended by
14	14	adding Subsection (a-1) and amending Subsection (d) to read as
15	15	follows:
16	16	(a-1) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), if the department
17	17	first entered into an adoption assistance agreement with a child's
18	18	adoptive parents after the child's 16th birthday, the department
19	19	shall, in accordance with rules adopted by the executive
20	20	commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission, offer
21	21	adoption assistance after the child's 18th birthday to the child's
22	22	adoptive parents under an existing adoption agreement until the
23	23	last day of the month of the child's 21st birthday, provided the
24	24	child is:
25	25	(1) regularly attending high school or enrolled in a
26	26	program leading toward a high school diploma or high school
27	27	equivalency certificate;
28	28	(2) regularly attending an institution of higher
29	29	education or a postsecondary vocational or technical program;
30	30	(3) participating in a program or activity that
31	31	promotes, or removes barriers to, employment;
32	32	(4) employed for at least 80 hours a month; or
33	33	(5) incapable of doing any of the activities described
34	34	by Subdivisions (1) through (4) due to a documented medical
35	35	condition.
36	36	(d) If the legislature does not appropriate sufficient
37	37	money to provide adoption assistance to the adoptive parents of all
38	38	children described by Subsection (a), the department shall provide
39	39	adoption assistance only to the adoptive parents of children
40	40	described by Subsection (a)(1). The department is not required to
41	41	provide adoption assistance benefits under Subsection (a-1) unless
42	42	the department is specifically appropriated funds for purposes of
43	43	that subsection.
44	44	SECTION 2. Section 264.101, Family Code, is amended by
45	45	amending Subsections (a-1) and (d) and adding Subsection (a-2) to
46	46	read as follows:
47	47	(a-1) The department shall continue to pay the cost of
48	48	foster care for a child for whom the department provides care,
49	49	including medical care, until the last day of the month in which
50	50	[later of:
51	51	[(1) the date] the child attains the age of 18. The
52	52	department shall continue to pay the cost of foster care for a child
53	53	after the month in which the child attains the age of 18 as long as
54	54	the child is:
55	55	(1) regularly attending[; or
56	56	[(2) the date the child graduates from] high school or
57	57	[ceases to be] enrolled in a [secondary school in a] program leading
58	58	toward a high school diploma or high school equivalency
59	59	certificate;
60	60	(2) regularly attending an institution of higher
61	61	education or a postsecondary vocational or technical program;
62	62	(3) participating in a program or activity that
63	63	promotes, or removes barriers to, employment;
64	64	(4) employed for at least 80 hours a month; or
65	65	(5) incapable of performing the activities described
66	66	by Subdivisions (1) through (4) due to a documented medical
67	67	condition.
68	68	(a-2) The department shall continue to pay the cost of
69	69	foster care under:
70	70	(1) Subsection (a-1)(1) until the last day of the
71	71	month in which the child attains the age of 22; and
72	72	(2) Subsections (a-1)(2) through (5) until the last
73	73	day of the month the child attains the age of 21.
74	74	(d) The executive commissioner of the Health and Human
75	75	Services Commission may adopt rules that establish criteria and
76	76	guidelines for the payment of foster care, including medical care,
77	77	for a child and for providing care for a child after the child
78	78	becomes 18 years of age if the child meets the requirements for
79	79	continued foster care under Subsection (a-1) [is regularly
80	80	attending an institution of higher education or a vocational or
81	81	technical program].
82	82	SECTION 3. Sections 264.751(1) and (3), Family Code, are
83	83	amended to read as follows:
84	84	(1) "Designated caregiver" means an individual who has
85	85	a longstanding and significant relationship with a child for whom
86	86	the department has been appointed managing conservator and who:
87	87	(A) is appointed to provide substitute care for
88	88	the child, but is not licensed by the department or verified by a
89	89	licensed child-placing agency or the department [certified] to
90	90	operate a foster home, foster group home, agency foster home, or
91	91	agency foster group home under Chapter 42, Human Resources Code; or
92	92	(B) is subsequently appointed permanent managing
93	93	conservator of the child after providing the care described by
94	94	Paragraph (A).
95	95	(3) "Relative caregiver" means a relative who:
96	96	(A) provides substitute care for a child for whom
97	97	the department has been appointed managing conservator, but who is
98	98	not licensed by the department or verified by a licensed
99	99	child-placing agency or the department [certified] to operate a
100	100	foster home, foster group home, agency foster home, or agency
101	101	foster group home under Chapter 42, Human Resources Code; or
102	102	(B) is subsequently appointed permanent managing
103	103	conservator of the child after providing the care described by
104	104	Paragraph (A).
105	105	SECTION 4. Subchapter I, Chapter 264, Family Code, is
106	106	amended by adding Section 264.760 to read as follows:
107	107	Sec. 264.760. ELIGIBILITY FOR FOSTER CARE PAYMENTS AND
108	108	PERMANENCY CARE ASSISTANCE. Notwithstanding any other provision of
109	109	this subchapter, a relative or other designated caregiver who
110	110	becomes licensed by the department or verified by a licensed
111	111	child-placing agency or the department to operate a foster home,
112	112	foster group home, agency foster home, or agency foster group home
113	113	under Chapter 42, Human Resources Code, may receive foster care
114	114	payments in lieu of the benefits provided by this subchapter,
115	115	beginning with the first month in which the relative or other
116	116	designated caregiver becomes licensed or is verified.
117	117	SECTION 5. Chapter 264, Family Code, is amended by adding
118	118	Subchapter K to read as follows:
119	119	SUBCHAPTER K. PERMANENCY CARE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
120	120	Sec. 264.851. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
121	121	(1) "Foster child" means a child who is or was in the
122	122	temporary or permanent managing conservatorship of the department.
123	123	(2) "Kinship provider" means a relative of a foster
124	124	child, or another adult with a longstanding and significant
125	125	relationship with a foster child before the child was placed with
126	126	the person by the department, with whom the child resides for at
127	127	least six consecutive months after the person becomes licensed by
128	128	the department or verified by a licensed child-placing agency or
129	129	the department to provide foster care.
130	130	(3) "Permanency care assistance agreement" means a
131	131	written agreement between the department and a kinship provider for
132	132	the payment of permanency care assistance benefits as provided by
133	133	this subchapter.
134	134	(4) "Permanency care assistance benefits" means
135	135	monthly payments paid by the department to a kinship provider under
136	136	a permanency care assistance agreement.
137	137	(5) "Relative" means a person related to a foster
138	138	child by consanguinity or affinity.
139	139	Sec. 264.852. PERMANENCY CARE ASSISTANCE AGREEMENTS. (a)
140	140	The department shall enter into a permanency care assistance
141	141	agreement with a kinship provider who is eligible to receive
142	142	permanency care assistance benefits.
143	143	(b) The department may enter into a permanency care
144	144	assistance agreement with a kinship provider who is the prospective
145	145	managing conservator of a foster child only if the kinship provider
146	146	meets the eligibility criteria under federal and state law and
147	147	department rule.
148	148	(c) A court may not order the department to enter into a
149	149	permanency care assistance agreement with a kinship provider unless
150	150	the kinship provider meets the eligibility criteria under federal
151	151	and state law and department rule, including requirements relating
152	152	to the criminal history background check of a kinship provider.
153	153	(d) A permanency care assistance agreement may provide for
154	154	reimbursement of the nonrecurring expenses a kinship provider
155	155	incurs in obtaining permanent managing conservatorship of a foster
156	156	child, including attorney's fees and court costs. The
157	157	reimbursement of the nonrecurring expenses under this subsection
158	158	may not exceed $2,000.
159	159	Sec. 264.853. RULES. The executive commissioner shall
160	160	adopt rules necessary to implement the permanency care assistance
161	161	program. The rules must:
162	162	(1) establish eligibility requirements to receive
163	163	permanency care assistance benefits under the program; and
164	164	(2) ensure that the program conforms to the
165	165	requirements for federal assistance as required by the Fostering
166	166	Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (Pub.
167	167	L. No. 110-351).
168	168	Sec. 264.854. MAXIMUM PAYMENT AMOUNT. The executive
169	169	commissioner shall set the maximum monthly amount of assistance
170	170	payments under a permanency care assistance agreement in an amount
171	171	that does not exceed the amount of the monthly foster care
172	172	maintenance payment the department would pay to a foster care
173	173	provider caring for the child for whom the kinship provider is
174	174	caring.
175	175	Sec. 264.855. CONTINUED ELIGIBILITY FOR PERMANENCY CARE
176	176	ASSISTANCE BENEFITS AFTER AGE 18. If the department first entered
177	177	into a permanency care assistance agreement with a foster child's
178	178	kinship provider after the child's 16th birthday, the department
179	179	may continue to provide permanency care assistance payments until
180	180	the last day of the month of the child's 21st birthday, provided the
181	181	child is:
182	182	(1) regularly attending high school or enrolled in a
183	183	program leading toward a high school diploma or high school
184	184	equivalency certificate;
185	185	(2) regularly attending an institution of higher
186	186	education or a postsecondary vocational or technical program;
187	187	(3) participating in a program or activity that
188	188	promotes, or removes barriers to, employment;
189	189	(4) employed for at least 80 hours a month; or
190	190	(5) incapable of any of the activities described by
191	191	Subdivisions (1) through (4) due to a documented medical condition.
192	192	Sec. 264.856. APPROPRIATION REQUIRED. The department is
193	193	not required to provide permanency care assistance benefits under
194	194	this subchapter unless the department is specifically appropriated
195	195	money for purposes of this subchapter.
196	196	Sec. 264.857. DEADLINE FOR NEW AGREEMENTS. The department
197	197	may not enter into a permanency care assistance agreement after
198	198	August 31, 2017. The department shall continue to make payments
199	199	after that date under a permanency care assistance agreement
200	200	entered into on or before August 31, 2017, according to the terms of
201	201	the agreement.
202	202	SECTION 6. Not later than April 1, 2010, the executive
203	203	commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission shall
204	204	adopt rules to implement and administer the permanency care
205	205	assistance program under Subchapter K, Chapter 264, Family Code, as
206	206	added by this Act.
207	207	SECTION 7. If before implementing any provision of this Act
208	208	a state agency determines that a waiver or authorization from a
209	209	federal agency is necessary for implementation of that provision,
210	210	the agency affected by the provision shall request the waiver or
211	211	authorization and may delay implementing that provision until the
212	212	waiver or authorization is granted.
213	213	SECTION 8. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
214	214	section, this Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
215	215	(b) Sections 162.3041 and 264.101, Family Code, as amended
216	216	by this Act, and Section 264.855, Family Code, as added by this Act,
217	217	take effect October 1, 2010.