Texas 2011 - 82nd Regular

Texas House Bill HB2819 Compare Versions

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1	1	By: King of Taylor, Naishtat H.B. No. 2819
2	2	(Senate Sponsor - Nelson)
3	3	(In the Senate - Received from the House May 16, 2011;
4	4	May 16, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on Health
5	5	and Human Services; May 20, 2011, reported favorably by the
6	6	following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 20, 2011, sent to printer.)
7	7
8	8
9	9	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
10	10	AN ACT
11	11	relating to the operation and efficiency of the eligibility
12	12	determination process for supplemental nutrition assistance
13	13	program benefits.
14	14	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
15	15	SECTION 1. Chapter 33, Human Resources Code, is amended by
16	16	designating Sections 33.0005 through 33.028 as Subchapter A and
17	17	adding a subchapter heading to read as follows:
18	18	SUBCHAPTER A. NUTRITIONAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS IN GENERAL
19	19	SECTION 2. Chapter 33, Human Resources Code, is amended by
20	20	adding Subchapter B to read as follows:
21	21	SUBCHAPTER B. SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM:
22	22	ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION PROCESS EFFICIENCY
23	23	Sec. 33.051. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
24	24	(1) "Commission" means the Health and Human Services
25	25	Commission.
26	26	(2) "Supplemental nutrition assistance program" means
27	27	the nutritional assistance program formerly referred to as the food
28	28	stamp program.
29	29	Sec. 33.052. APPLICATION ASSISTANCE. (a) The commission
30	30	shall develop procedures to ensure that:
31	31	(1) clear guidance on program eligibility
32	32	requirements is provided to supplemental nutrition assistance
33	33	applicants and prospective applicants and mechanisms are
34	34	established, including Internet and e-mail mechanisms, as
35	35	appropriate, by which applicants can obtain answers to basic
36	36	program-related questions; and
37	37	(2) information is provided to each applicant in
38	38	person, by e-mail, by telephone, or through the mail, as
39	39	appropriate, about information the applicant is required to submit
40	40	for purposes of the eligibility determination process.
41	41	(b) The commission shall consider the feasibility and
42	42	cost-effectiveness of using office personnel or an automated system
43	43	or systems to support the eligibility determination process by
44	44	contacting an applicant in advance of an applicant's scheduled
45	45	interview to remind the applicant of the interview and the
46	46	documentation that must be presented at the interview.
47	47	Sec. 33.053. USE OF TECHNOLOGY TO PROMOTE EFFICIENCY AND
48	48	FRAUD DETECTION. (a) The commission shall consider the
49	49	feasibility and cost-effectiveness of using readily available
50	50	document scanning technology to reduce storage and maintenance
51	51	costs and potential loss of data by creating electronic case files
52	52	for supplemental nutrition assistance cases instead of maintaining
53	53	physical files for those cases. The commission shall use that
54	54	technology if determined feasible and cost-effective.
55	55	(b) The commission shall implement, if feasible and
56	56	cost-effective, a risk scoring program for supplemental nutrition
57	57	assistance applications to streamline the eligibility
58	58	determination process, reduce errors, and strengthen fraud
59	59	detection. A risk scoring program implemented by the commission
60	60	must be capable of ranking applications based on complexity so
61	61	that:
62	62	(1) more experienced eligibility determination staff
63	63	members can be used to process more difficult cases and cases with
64	64	fraud characteristics; and
65	65	(2) applications ranked as low-risk on fraud
66	66	characteristics can be processed more expeditiously.
67	67	Sec. 33.054. WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT. The commission shall
68	68	improve its management of supplemental nutrition assistance
69	69	eligibility determination staff by:
70	70	(1) establishing clear performance expectations that
71	71	can serve as the basis for performance assessments;
72	72	(2) planning for anticipated staffing needs;
73	73	(3) revising policies regarding overtime and accrual
74	74	of compensatory time to ensure that eligibility determination staff
75	75	members have access to supervisors as necessary;
76	76	(4) assessing the effectiveness of training provided
77	77	to new eligibility determination staff members; and
78	78	(5) evaluating the compensation of eligibility
79	79	determination staff members to determine if the compensation is
80	80	sufficient to recruit qualified staff members and retain
81	81	experienced staff members.
82	82	Sec. 33.055. PROGRAM MANAGEMENT INFORMATION. (a) The
83	83	commission, in conjunction with state, regional, and local
84	84	eligibility determination offices, shall identify eligibility
85	85	determination program performance indicators with respect to which
86	86	data should periodically be collected. The commission shall
87	87	implement a process for collecting data on the identified
88	88	performance indicators.
89	89	(b) The commission shall provide periodic management
90	90	reports generated by the automated eligibility system to
91	91	eligibility determination offices. The reports must include
92	92	information regarding the number of pending supplemental nutrition
93	93	assistance applications and the number of those applications that
94	94	have not been processed within applicable timeliness standards.
95	95	(c) The commission shall use data collected under
96	96	Subsection (a) and the reports described by Subsection (b) to
97	97	develop and assess strategies for:
98	98	(1) streamlining the supplemental nutrition
99	99	assistance eligibility determination process;
100	100	(2) improving timeliness of eligibility
101	101	determinations; and
102	102	(3) accommodating increases in applications received.
103	103	SECTION 3. To the extent available for this purpose, the
104	104	Health and Human Services Commission shall use supplemental federal
105	105	funding provided for the administration of the supplemental
106	106	nutrition assistance program to implement Subchapter B, Chapter 33,
107	107	Human Resources Code, as added by this Act.
108	108	SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.
109	109	* * * * *