84R12098 JSC-D
By: Moody H.B. No. 2649
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to requiring video recording in certain home and
community-based services provider facilities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter H, Chapter 48, Human Resources Code,
is amended by adding Section 48.3525 to read as follows:
Sec. 48.3525. RECORDING EQUIPMENT TO AID IN INVESTIGATIONS.
(a) A facility providing home and community-based services to eight
or more individuals shall place video cameras in the facility that
are capable of covering all areas of the facility in which staff and
individuals receiving services interact, other than a bathroom or
any area in which an individual's clothes are changed.
(b) The home and community-based services provider shall
provide notice to the persons receiving services and other persons
entering the facility that video monitoring is occurring.
(c) A home and community-based services provider shall
maintain a recording for not less than a year after the recording
was made.
(d) A video recording made under this section is
confidential and may not be used for any purpose other than
enforcement by the department.
(e) The department is entitled at any time to view any video
recording made by a home and community-based services provider
under this section.
(f) If the department receives a complaint of abuse,
neglect, or exploitation, the department shall review the relevant
video recording.
(g) If the home and community-based services provider does
not produce a video recording on request of the department when the
department is performing an investigation of an allegation of
abuse, neglect, or exploitation, the department shall treat the
situation as a hazard to the health or safety of the individuals
receiving services from the provider and proceed with a thorough
review of the facility and require any necessary corrective
measures.
(h) If the home and community-based services provider does
not produce a video recording on request of the department when the
department is performing an investigation of an allegation of
abuse, neglect, or exploitation, and the provider has failed to
provide a video recording in response to a request made in
connection to a department investigation less than a year before
the instant request, the department shall deny or terminate the
certification of the provider.
SECTION 2. Not later than January 1, 2016, a home and
community-based services provider that is subject to Section
48.3525, Human Resources Code, as added by this Act, shall install
and begin to use a video recording system as required by that
section.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a report of abuse, neglect, or exploitation that is received
based on conduct that was alleged to have occurred on or after
January 1, 2016.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.