Bill: SB 933, 85(R) - 2017

Committee

Senate Health & Human Services

Vote Recommendation

Vote Recommendation Economic Freedom Property Rights Personal Responsibility Limited Government Individual Liberty
Neutral Neutral Neutral Neutral Neutral Neutral

Author(s)

Charles Schwertner

Bill Caption

Relating to the licensing of, the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission's duties with respect to, and the administrative penalties for home and community support services agencies. 

Bill Analysis

This bill would make the Health and Human Services Commission the government entity that regulates home and community based services and that issues a home and community support services agency license, and would change the expiration of the license to three years after the date of issuance (instead of two) and would require the executive commissioner to adopt a system under which licenses expire on staggered dates during each three-year period. The commission would be required to prorate the fee for the license if the expiration date of a license changes due to this change in the law. the bill would also require that some license fees under the section be not less than $600 but not more than $3,000. This bill would change administrative penalties under the section to not less than $100 or more than $5,000 for each violation that results in actual harm or constitutes an immediate threat to the health and safety of a client. The commission would be required to use a system to record the scope and severity of each violation or this chapter to assess an administrative penalty or other enforcement action appropriate against home and community support services. 

Vote Recommendation Notes

This is a mostly procedural overhaul of the way health and community based services are licensed and regulated in Texas. While there are some penalty increases authorized under the provisions of this bill, those increases do not appear to be disproportionate to the violations for which they would be assessed. For these reasons we remain neutral on SB 933.


Source URL (retrieved on 03/29/2024 10:03 AM): http://reports.texasaction.com/bill/85r/sb933?print_view=true