Texas 2013 - 83rd Regular

Texas House Bill HB1633 Compare Versions

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1	1	By: Dukes H.B. No. 1633
2	2	Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1633:
3	3	By: Raymond C.S.H.B. No. 1633
4	4
5	5
6	6	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
7	7	AN ACT
8	8	relating to creating an advisory committee to study child abuse and
9	9	neglect fatalities.
10	10	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
11	11	SECTION 1. PROTECT OUR KIDS COMMISSION. (a) The Protect Our
12	12	Kids Commission is composed of the following members:
13	13	(1) six members appointed by the governor;
14	14	(2) three members appointed by the lieutenant
15	15	governor;
16	16	(3) three members appointed by the speaker of the
17	17	house of representatives;
18	18	(4) one member with experience in behavioral health
19	19	and substance abuse appointed by the Commissioner of the Department
20	20	of State Health Services;
21	21	(5) one member who represents the Department of Family
22	22	and Protective Services appointed by the commissioner of the
23	23	department; and
24	24	(6) one member who represents the Office of Title V and
25	25	Family Health of the Department of State Health Services appointed
26	26	by the office director.
27	27	(b) The appropriate appointing authority shall appoint the
28	28	members to the commission not later than December 31, 2013.
29	29	SECTION 2. QUALIFICATIONS. Each member appointed to the
30	30	commission must have experience in one or more of the following
31	31	areas:
32	32	(1) child welfare administration;
33	33	(2) child welfare research;
34	34	(3) child development;
35	35	(4) legislation, including legislation involving
36	36	child welfare matters;
37	37	(5) trauma and crisis intervention;
38	38	(6) pediatrics;
39	39	(7) psychology and mental health;
40	40	(8) emergency medicine;
41	41	(9) neonatology;
42	42	(10) forensic pathology or medical investigation of
43	43	injury and fatality;
44	44	(11) social work, with field experience;
45	45	(12) child protective services, with field
46	46	experience;
47	47	(13) law enforcement, with experience handling child
48	48	abuse and neglect matters;
49	49	(14) civil law, with experience handling child abuse
50	50	and neglect matters;
51	51	(15) criminal law, with experience handling child
52	52	abuse and neglect matters;
53	53	(16) substance abuse treatment;
54	54	(17) provision of services to families who had a child
55	55	die of sudden infant death syndrome;
56	56	(18) provision of services to or advocacy for victims
57	57	of family violence;
58	58	(19) service on a task force for reducing child abuse
59	59	and neglect and improving child welfare;
60	60	(20) education at an elementary school or secondary
61	61	school;
62	62	(21) education at an institution of higher education;
63	63	(22) epidemiology; or
64	64	(23) computer science or software engineering, with a
65	65	background in interoperability standards.
66	66	SECTION 3. DIVERSITY OF QUALIFICATIONS. In making
67	67	appointments to the commission, each appointing authority shall
68	68	make every effort to select individuals:
69	69	(1) whose qualifications are not already represented
70	70	by other members of the commission; and
71	71	(2) who reflect the geographical, cultural, racial,
72	72	and ethnic diversity of the state.
73	73	SECTION 4. PRESIDING OFFICER. The governor shall designate
74	74	one of the governor's appointees as presiding officer of the
75	75	commission.
76	76	SECTION 5. VACANCY. A vacancy on the commission shall be
77	77	filled in the same manner as the original appointment.
78	78	SECTION 6. MEETINGS. (a) Not later than the 30th day after
79	79	the date on which a majority of the members of the commission have
80	80	been appointed, the commission shall hold its first meeting.
81	81	(b) The commission shall meet at least once each calendar
82	82	quarter and at other times as necessary at the call of the presiding
83	83	officer.
84	84	(c) The commission may take testimony and receive evidence
85	85	the commission considers advisable to carry out its duties.
86	86	SECTION 7. COMPENSATION. Members of the commission serve
87	87	without compensation and are not entitled to reimbursement for
88	88	expenses.
89	89	SECTION 8. DUTIES OF COMMISSION. The commission shall
90	90	study the relationship between child protective services and child
91	91	welfare services and the rate of child abuse and neglect
92	92	fatalities. As part of the study, the commission shall:
93	93	(1) evaluate current programs and prevention efforts,
94	94	and recommend a comprehensive statewide strategy to reduce and
95	95	prevent fatalities from child abuse and neglect; and
96	96	(2) review:
97	97	(A) current research, including the National
98	98	Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being and research and
99	99	recommendations from the United States Government Accountability
100	100	Office, to identify lessons, solutions, and needed improvements
101	101	related to reducing fatalities from child abuse and neglect;
102	102	(B) the effectiveness of child protective
103	103	services and child welfare services in preventing child fatalities
104	104	that are intentionally caused or that occur due to negligence,
105	105	neglect, or a failure to exercise proper care;
106	106	(C) the effectiveness of the Department of Family
107	107	and Protective Services' policies and systems aimed at collecting
108	108	accurate, uniform data on child fatalities in a coordinated
109	109	fashion, including the identification of the most and least
110	110	effective policies and systems in practice;
111	111	(D) any existing barriers to preventing
112	112	fatalities from child abuse and neglect, and how to improve child
113	113	welfare outcomes;
114	114	(E) trends in demographic and other risk factors
115	115	that may predict or that are related to child abuse, including age
116	116	of the child, child behavior, family structure, parental stress,
117	117	and poverty;
118	118	(F) methods of prioritizing child abuse and
119	119	neglect prevention for families with the highest need; and
120	120	(G) methods of improving data collection and use,
121	121	including increasing interoperability among state, local, and
122	122	other data systems.
123	123	SECTION 9. RECOMMENDATIONS. The commission shall:
124	124	(1) identify promising practices and evidence-based
125	125	strategies to address and reduce fatalities from child abuse and
126	126	neglect;
127	127	(2) develop recommendations and identify resources
128	128	necessary to reduce fatalities from child abuse and neglect for
129	129	implementation by state and local agencies and private sector and
130	130	nonprofit organizations, including recommendations to implement a
131	131	comprehensive statewide strategy for reducing those fatalities;
132	132	(3) develop guidelines for ensuring that each county
133	133	in the state is covered by a child fatality review team created
134	134	under Subchapter F, Chapter 264, Family Code, and provide specific
135	135	recommendations for a child fatality review team investigating a
136	136	child fatality that is caused by abuse or neglect; and
137	137	(4) develop guidelines for the types of information
138	138	that should be tracked to improve interventions to prevent
139	139	fatalities from child abuse and neglect.
140	140	SECTION 10. GIFTS. The commission may accept gifts and
141	141	grants of money, property, and services from any source to be used
142	142	to conduct a function of the commission.
143	143	SECTION 11. REPORT. Not later than December 1, 2015, the
144	144	commission shall submit to the governor, lieutenant governor, and
145	145	speaker of the house of representatives a report containing:
146	146	(1) the commission's findings and recommendations;
147	147	(2) a complete explanation of each of the commission's
148	148	recommendations;
149	149	(3) proposed legislation necessary to implement the
150	150	recommendations made in the report; and
151	151	(4) any administrative recommendations proposed by
152	152	the commission.
153	153	SECTION 12. APPLICATION OF LAW GOVERNING ADVISORY
154	154	COMMITTEES. The commission is not subject to Chapter 2110,
155	155	Government Code.
156	156	SECTION 13. EXPIRATION DATE. The Protect Our Kids
157	157	Commission is abolished and this Act expires December 31, 2015.
158	158	SECTION 14. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes effect
159	159	September 1, 2013.