H.B. No. 2070
AN ACT
relating to certain requirements for certain facilities licensed by
the Department of Family and Protective Services and the
department's enforcement authority.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 42, Human Resources Code,
is amended by adding Section 42.0462 to read as follows:
Sec. 42.0462. WAIVER OF NOTICE AND HEARING REQUIREMENTS.
To protect the safety and well-being of residents and employees of a
general residential operation that provides comprehensive
residential services to children who are victims of trafficking,
the department shall waive the notice and hearing requirements
imposed under Section 42.0461 for an applicant who submits to the
department an application to provide trafficking victim services at
the applicant's general residential operation.
SECTION 2. Section 42.054, Human Resources Code, is amended
by amending Subsections (a), (b), (c), (d), and (e) and adding
Subsection (h) to read as follows:
(a) The department shall charge an applicant a
nonrefundable application fee [of $35] for an initial license to
operate a child-care facility or a child-placing agency.
(b) The department shall charge each child-care facility a
fee [of $35] for an initial license. The department shall charge
each child-placing agency a fee [of $50] for an initial license.
(c) The department shall charge each licensed child-care
facility an annual license fee [in the amount of $35 plus $1 for
each child the child-care facility is permitted to serve]. The fee
is due on the date on which the department issues the child-care
facility's initial license and on the anniversary of that date.
(d) The department shall charge each licensed child-placing
agency an annual license fee [of $100]. The fee is due on the date on
which the department issues the child-placing agency's initial
license and on the anniversary of that date.
(e) The department shall charge each family home that is
listed or registered with the department an annual fee [to cover a
part of the department's cost in regulating family homes. The
amount of the fee is $20 for a listed home or $35 for a registered
home]. The fee is due on the date on which the department initially
lists or registers the home and on the anniversary of that date.
(h) The executive commissioner by rule shall set fees under
this section.
SECTION 3. Subchapter D, Chapter 42, Human Resources Code,
is amended by adding Section 42.0704 to read as follows:
Sec. 42.0704. ENFORCEMENT POLICY. (a) The executive
commissioner by rule shall adopt a general enforcement policy that
describes the department's approach to enforcement of this chapter.
(b) The enforcement policy must:
(1) summarize the department's general expectations in
enforcing this chapter;
(2) include the methodology required by Subsection
(c); and
(3) describe the department's plan for strengthening
its enforcement efforts and for making objective regulatory
decisions.
(c) As part of the enforcement policy, the department shall
develop and implement a methodology for determining the appropriate
disciplinary action to take against a person who violates this
chapter or a department rule. The methodology must provide guidance
on when to use each of the available tools of enforcement, including
technical assistance, voluntary plans of action, evaluation,
probation, suspension or revocation of a license or registration,
denial of a license or registration, administrative penalties, and
emergency suspension. The methodology must allow the department to
consider the circumstances of a particular case, including the
nature and seriousness of the violation, history of previous
violations, and aggravating and mitigating factors, in determining
the appropriate disciplinary action.
(d) The department shall make the methodology described by
Subsection (c) available to the public, including by posting the
methodology on the department's Internet website.
SECTION 4. Section 42.078(a-2), Human Resources Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a-2) The department may impose an administrative penalty
without first imposing a nonmonetary administrative sanction for
violating a minimum standard applicable to a facility or family
home under this chapter that is determined by the department to be a
high-risk standard, including background check standards, safety
hazard standards, and supervision standards [the following
violations:
[(1) failing to timely submit the information
required to conduct a background and criminal history check under
Section 42.056 and applicable department rules on two or more
occasions;
[(2) failing to submit the information required
to conduct a background and criminal history check under Section
42.056 and applicable department rules before the 30th day after
the date the facility or family home is notified by the department
that the information is overdue;
[(3) except as provided by Section 42.056(g),
knowingly allowing a person to be present in a facility or family
home when the person's background and criminal history check has
not been received;
[(4) knowingly allowing a person to be present in
a facility or family home when the person's background and criminal
history check has been received and contains criminal history or
central registry findings that under department rules preclude the
person from being present in the facility or family home; or
[(5) violating a condition or restriction the
department places on a person's presence at a facility or family
home as part of a pending or approved risk evaluation of the
person's background and criminal history or central registry
findings].
SECTION 5. Subchapter D, Chapter 42, Human Resources Code,
is amended by adding Section 42.079 to read as follows:
Sec. 42.079. CEASE AND DESIST ORDER. (a) If it appears to
the department that a person who is not licensed, certified,
registered, or listed under this chapter is operating a child-care
facility or family home, the department, after notice and
opportunity for a hearing, may issue a cease and desist order
prohibiting the person from operating the facility or home.
(b) A violation of an order under this section constitutes
grounds for imposing an administrative penalty under Section
42.078.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2070 was passed by the House on May 5,
2015, by the following vote: Yeas 145, Nays 0, 2 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 2070 on May 28, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 144, Nays 1,
2 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2070 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 26, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor