S.B. No. 271
AN ACT
relating to applicants for employment at assisted living
facilities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 247, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 247.072 to read as follows:
Sec. 247.072. APPLICANTS FOR EMPLOYMENT; CRIMINAL HISTORY
CHECK. (a) In addition to the prohibitions provided by Section
250.003, an assisted living facility licensed under this chapter
may not employ at the facility an applicant who fails to indicate in
a written statement developed by the commission and included with
the submitted application that the applicant has not been convicted
of an offense described by Section 250.006. For purposes of this
subsection, a person who commits an offense in another state that is
substantially similar to an offense described by Section 250.006 is
considered to have committed the offense described by that section.
(b) If an applicant for employment at an assisted living
facility states in the application that the applicant resided in
another state during the five years preceding the date of the
application, the facility, before employing the applicant in a
permanent position, shall conduct a name-based criminal history
check in each state in which the applicant previously resided.
(c) The commission shall develop the statement described by
Subsection (a) and make the statement available to assisted living
facilities on the commission's Internet website.
(d) If an assisted living facility employs a person pending
an out-of-state criminal history check under Subsection (b), the
facility shall ensure the person has no direct contact with a
resident until the facility obtains the person's criminal history
record information and verifies the person is not barred from
employment under Section 250.006.
SECTION 2. Section 247.072, Health and Safety Code, as
added by this Act, applies only to an application for employment at
an assisted living facility submitted on or after the effective
date of this Act.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 271 passed the Senate on
April 9, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 271 passed the House on
May 23, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 143, Nays 2, two present
not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor