Bill Text: TX HB35 | 2023 | 88th Legislature 3rd Special Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Relating to the Department of Family and Protective Services' annual report of key performance measures and data elements for child protection; authorizing a penalty.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-10-06 - Filed [HB35 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB35-Introduced.html
  88S30034 MLH-D
 
  By: Gervin-Hawkins H.B. No. 35
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the Department of Family and Protective Services'
  annual report of key performance measures and data elements for
  child protection; authorizing a penalty.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 264.017, Family Code, is amended by
  amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (g) to read as
  follows:
         (b)  The department shall provide the report required by
  Subsection (a) to the legislature and shall publish the report and
  make the report available electronically to the public, including
  by posting the report on the department's Internet website, not
  later than February 1 of each year.  The report must include, with
  respect to the preceding year:
               (1)  information on the number and disposition of
  reports of child abuse and neglect received by the department;
               (2)  information on the number of clients for whom the
  department took protective action, including investigations,
  alternative responses, and court-ordered removals;
               (3)  information on the number of clients for whom the
  department provided services in each program administered by the
  child protective services division, including investigations,
  alternative responses, family-based safety services,
  conservatorship, post-adoption services, and transitional living
  services;
               (4)  the number of children in this state who died as a
  result of child abuse or neglect;
               (5)  the number of children described by Subdivision
  (4) for whom the department was the children's managing conservator
  at the time of death;
               (6)  information on the timeliness of the department's
  initial contact in an investigation or alternative response;
               (7)  information on the response time by the department
  in commencing services to families and children for whom an
  allegation of child abuse or neglect has been made;
               (8)  information regarding child protection staffing
  and caseloads by program area;
               (9)  information on the permanency goals in place and
  achieved for children in the managing conservatorship of the
  department, including information on the timeliness of achieving
  the goals, the stability of the children's placement in foster
  care, and the proximity of placements to the children's home
  counties;
               (10)  the number of children who suffer from a severe
  emotional disturbance and for whom the department is appointed
  managing conservator, including statistics on appointments as
  joint managing conservator, due to an individual voluntarily
  relinquishing custody of a child solely to obtain mental health
  services for the child;
               (11)  the number of children who are pregnant or a
  parent while in the managing conservatorship of the department and
  the number of the children born to a parent in the managing
  conservatorship of the department who are placed in the managing
  conservatorship of the department;
               (12)  the number of children who are missing from the
  children's substitute care provider while in the managing
  conservatorship of the department; [and]
               (13)  the number of children who were victims of
  trafficking under Chapter 20A, Penal Code, while in the managing
  conservatorship of the department; and
               (14)  information on the state's kinship care program.
         (g)  The comptroller shall assess a penalty against the
  department in the amount of $1,000 for each day after February 1 the
  department has not filed the report under Subsection (b). The
  comptroller shall reallocate the amount assessed as a penalty under
  this subsection as necessary to allow the department to use the
  money to provide financial assistance to relative and other
  designated caregivers under Section 264.755.
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect on the 91st day after the
  last day of the legislative session.
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