85R8895 MK-D
By: Uresti S.B. No. 879
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the eligibility of a person to serve as and receive
monetary assistance for serving as a relative or other designated
caregiver.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 264.754, Family Code, is amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 264.754. INVESTIGATION OF PROPOSED PLACEMENT. (a)
Before placing a child with a proposed relative or other designated
caregiver, the department must conduct an investigation to
determine whether the proposed placement is in the child's best
interest.
(b) The department may not disqualify a person from serving
as a relative or other designated caregiver for a child on the basis
that the proposed caregiver has been convicted of a nonviolent
criminal offense, if the department determines that placing the
child with the person is otherwise in the child's best interest.
SECTION 2. Section 264.755, Family Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:
(f) In determining a family's need for monetary assistance,
the department shall exclude from a caregiver's available
resources:
(1) real property owned by the caregiver that is
homestead property; and
(2) the fair market value of the caregiver's ownership
interest in a motor vehicle, but not more than $5,000 plus or minus
an amount to be determined annually beginning on October 1, 2017, to
reflect changes in the new car component of the Consumer Price Index
for All Urban Consumers published by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2017.