87R12590 TYPED
By: Noble H.B. No. 2532
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to investigating and responding to complaints filed
against the Department of Family and Protective Services.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 40.0041, Human Resources Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 40.0041. COMPLAINT PROCESS. (a) Complaints against
the Department of Family and Protective services by members of the
public, consumers, department employees, and service recipients in
connection with any investigation or action taken by the department
shall be received and investigated by the Health and Human Services
Commission Office of Inspector General. The executive commissioner
of the Health and Human Services Commission, in consultation with
the office of the inspector general and the commissioner of the
Department of Family and Protective Services, by rule shall develop
and implement a uniform process for receiving and resolving
complaints against the department throughout the state. The process
shall include:
(1) statewide procedures through which the public,
consumers, department employees, and service recipients are
informed:
(A) of the right to make a complaint against the
department, including the mailing addresses and telephone numbers
of appropriate departmentoffice of inspector general personnel
responsible for receiving complaints and providing related
assistance; and
(B) of the department'soffice's procedures for
resolving a complaint, including the right to appeal a decision
made at the local level;
(2) development and statewide distribution of a form
or telephone system that may be used to make a complaint;
(3) a requirement that the departmentoffice of
inspector general provide information by mail or telephone
regarding the department's procedures for investigating and
resolving a complaint to each person who makes a complaint; and
(4) a requirement that the departmentoffice of
inspector general provide status information via phone, email, or
other written communication at least quarterly to a person with a
pending complaint against the department, unless the information
would jeopardize an undercover investigation.
(a-1) Any of the functions in Section (a) previously handled
by the department's Office of Consumer Relations or other entity
housed within the department shall be fully transferred to the
Health and Human Services Commission's office of inspector general.
Within 3 months after the effective date of this Act, the
commissioner of the Department of Family and Protective Services
shall transfer all department funds and resources, including any
and all applicable information technology, allocated for
performing the duties described in Section (a) to the Health and
Human Services Commission Office of Inspector General. The
commissioner of the Department of Family and Protective Services,
in consultation with the executive commissioner of the Health and
Human Services Commission and office of inspector general, shall
adopt any rules necessary for achieving this purpose.
(b) In addition to other appropriate methods, the
department may provide the information specified by Subsection
(a)(1):
(1) on each registration form, application, or written
contract for services of a person regulated by the department;
(2) on a sign prominently displayed in the place of
business of each person regulated by the department; or
(3) in a bill for service provided by a person
regulated by the department.
(c) In performing the functions described in Section (a),
the office of the inspector general shall have the authority to:
(1) make recommendations for corrective and remedial
actions to be taken by the department in connection with individual
complaints and enforce compliance with those recommendations;
(2) audit the department in connection with a
complaint investigation;
(3) obtain any and all department data necessary for
completing an investigation; and
(4) open any investigation it deems necessary for
ensuring department or agency compliance with law, procedure, or
policy.
(c-1) the department shall fully cooperate with any
investigation and provide data or other information requested by
the office of inspector general in connection with an investigation
within 14 business days of receipt of the request.
(cd) The departmentoffice of inspector general shall keep
an information file about each complaint made against the
department that the departmentoffice has authority to resolve.
(de) The executive commissioner of the Health and Human
Services Commission, in consultation with the inspector general and
the commissioner of the Department of Family and Protective
Services, shall develop a consistent, statewide process for
addressing an appeal by a person dissatisfied with the resolution
of a complaint at the regional level. The process shall include an
opportunity for appeal of a complaint without the participation of
the department's ombudsman office.
(ef) The departmentoffice of inspector general shall
develop and maintain a centralized tracking system to gather
information concerning all complaints made against the department
throughout the state. The departmentoffice of inspector general
shall require its personnel to provide information regarding each
complaint for inclusion in records maintained under the tracking
system at the department'sHealth and Human Services Commission's
state headquarters, regardless of the location or level at which
the complaint is initiated or resolved. The department shall
require at least the following minimum information toshall be
maintained for each complaint:
(1) the date the complaint is received;
(2) the name of the person making the complaint;
(3) the subject matter of the complaint;
(4) a record of all persons contacted by the
departmentoffice of inspector general in relation to the
complaint;
(5) a summary of the results of the review or
investigation of the complaint; and
(6) for each complaint determined by the department
office of inspector general to require no corrective action, an
explanation of the reason that the complaint was closed without
action.
(fg) The departmentoffice of inspector general shall
periodically prepare and deliver reports to the executive
commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission,and the
commissioner of the Department of Family and Protective Services,
the Office of the Governor, and the Chairs of the House Human
Services Committee and Senate Health and Human Services Committee
regarding the number, type, and resolution of complaints made in
the state against the department.
(gh) The department shall cooperate with the ombudsman for
children and youth in foster care to create consequences, based on
the circumstances of the complaint and the severity of the
retaliation, for any person who is found to have retaliated against
a child or youth in the conservatorship of the department because of
a complaint made to the ombudsman.
(hi) The executive commissioner shall adopt rules requiring
all residential child-care facilities in which children and youth
in the conservatorship of the department are placed to display
information about the ombudsman for children and youth in foster
care and the process for filing a complaint with the ombudsman in a
location that is easily accessible and offers maximum privacy to
the children and youth residing at the facility.
SECTION 2. Section 531.102, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 531.102. OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL. (a) The
commission's office of inspector general is responsible for the
prevention, detection, audit, inspection, review, and
investigation of fraud, waste, and abuse in the provision and
delivery of all health and human services in the state, including
services through any state-administered health or human services
program that is wholly or partly federally funded or services
provided by the Department of Family and Protective Services, and
the enforcement of state law relating to the provision of those
services. The commission's office of inspector general shall also
be responsible for receiving, investigating, and responding to
complaints filed by members of the public, consumers, department
employees, and service recipients against the Department of Family
and Protective Services in accordance with Section 40.0041, Human
Resources Code. The commission may obtain any information or
technology necessary to enable the office to meet its
responsibilities under this subchapter or other law.