Bill Text: TX SB892 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to protection of the rights of conscience for child welfare services providers.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-05-23 - Co-author authorized [SB892 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-SB892-Introduced.html
85R10035 MCK-F | ||
By: Perry | S.B. No. 892 |
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relating to protection of the rights of conscience for child | ||
welfare services providers. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Subtitle D, Title 2, Human Resources Code, is | ||
amended by adding Chapter 45 to read as follows: | ||
CHAPTER 45. PROTECTION OF RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE FOR | ||
CHILD WELFARE SERVICES PROVIDERS | ||
Sec. 45.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter: | ||
(1) "Adverse action" means any action that directly or | ||
indirectly adversely affects the person against whom the adverse | ||
action is taken, places the person in a worse position than the | ||
person was in before the adverse action was taken, or is likely to | ||
deter a reasonable person from acting or refusing to act. An adverse | ||
action includes: | ||
(A) denying an application for, refusing to | ||
renew, or canceling funding; | ||
(B) declining to enter into, refusing to renew, | ||
or canceling a contract; | ||
(C) declining to issue, refusing to renew, or | ||
canceling a license; | ||
(D) terminating, suspending, demoting, or | ||
reassigning a person; and | ||
(E) limiting the ability of a person to engage in | ||
child welfare services. | ||
(2) "Child welfare services" means social services | ||
provided to or on behalf of children, including: | ||
(A) assisting abused or neglected children; | ||
(B) counseling children or parents; | ||
(C) promoting foster parenting; | ||
(D) providing foster homes, general residential | ||
operations, residential care, adoptive homes, group homes, or | ||
temporary group shelters for children; | ||
(E) recruiting foster parents; | ||
(F) placing children in foster homes; | ||
(G) licensing foster homes; | ||
(H) promoting adoption or recruiting adoptive | ||
parents; | ||
(I) assisting adoptions or supporting adoptive | ||
families; | ||
(J) performing or assisting home studies; | ||
(K) assisting kinship guardianships or kinship | ||
caregivers; | ||
(L) providing family preservation services; | ||
(M) providing family support services; | ||
(N) providing temporary family reunification | ||
services; | ||
(O) placing children in adoptive homes; and | ||
(P) serving as a foster parent. | ||
(3) "Child welfare services provider" means a person, | ||
other than a governmental entity, that provides, seeks to provide, | ||
or applies for or receives a contract, subcontract, grant, | ||
subgrant, or cooperative agreement to provide child welfare | ||
services. The person is not required to be engaged exclusively in | ||
child welfare services to be a child welfare services provider. | ||
(4) "Governmental entity" means: | ||
(A) this state or a municipality or other | ||
political subdivision of this state; | ||
(B) any agency of this state or of a municipality | ||
or other political subdivision of this state, including a | ||
department, bureau, board, commission, office, agency, council, | ||
court, and public institution of higher education; or | ||
(C) a single source continuum contractor in this | ||
state. | ||
Sec. 45.002. APPLICABILITY. (a) This chapter applies to | ||
any ordinance, rule, order, decision, practice, or other exercise | ||
of governmental authority. | ||
(b) This chapter applies to an act of a governmental entity, | ||
in the exercise of governmental authority, granting or refusing to | ||
grant a government benefit to a child welfare services provider. | ||
Sec. 45.003. CHILD WELFARE SERVICES PROVIDERS PROTECTED. A | ||
governmental entity or any person that contracts with this state or | ||
operates under governmental authority to refer or place children | ||
for child welfare services may not discriminate or take any adverse | ||
action against a child welfare services provider on the basis, | ||
wholly or partly, that the provider: | ||
(1) has declined or will decline to provide, | ||
facilitate, or refer a person for child welfare services that | ||
conflict with, or under circumstances that conflict with, the | ||
provider's sincerely held religious beliefs; | ||
(2) provides or intends to provide children under the | ||
control, care, guardianship, or direction of the provider with a | ||
religious education, including through placing the children in a | ||
private or parochial school or otherwise providing a religious | ||
education in accordance with the laws of this state; | ||
(3) has declined or will decline to provide, | ||
facilitate, or refer a person for abortions, contraceptives, or | ||
drugs, devices, or services that are potentially | ||
abortion-inducing; or | ||
(4) refuses to enter into a contract that is | ||
inconsistent with or would in any way interfere with or force a | ||
provider to surrender the rights created by this chapter. | ||
Sec. 45.004. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION. A child welfare | ||
services provider may assert an actual or threatened violation of | ||
this chapter as a claim or defense in a judicial or administrative | ||
proceeding and obtain the relief specified in Section 45.005. | ||
Sec. 45.005. REMEDIES. (a) A child welfare services | ||
provider who successfully asserts a claim or defense under this | ||
chapter is entitled to recover: | ||
(1) declaratory relief under Chapter 37, Civil | ||
Practice and Remedies Code; | ||
(2) injunctive relief to prevent the threatened or | ||
continued adverse action; | ||
(3) compensatory damages for pecuniary and | ||
nonpecuniary losses; and | ||
(4) reasonable attorney's fees, court costs, and other | ||
reasonable expenses. | ||
(b) Compensatory damages awarded under Subsection (a)(3) | ||
may not exceed $250,000 for each distinct controversy, without | ||
regard to the number of members or other persons associated with a | ||
child welfare services provider who claim injury under this | ||
chapter. | ||
(c) A person may not bring an action for damages or | ||
declaratory or injunctive relief against an individual, other than | ||
an action brought against an individual acting in the individual's | ||
official capacity. | ||
Sec. 45.006. TWO-YEAR LIMITATIONS PERIOD. A child welfare | ||
services provider must bring an action to assert a claim for damages | ||
under this chapter not later than the second anniversary of the date | ||
the provider actually knew of the violation of this chapter. | ||
Sec. 45.007. IMMUNITY WAIVED. (a) Sovereign and | ||
governmental immunity to suit and from liability are waived and | ||
abolished to the extent of liability created by Section 45.005, and | ||
a claimant may sue a governmental entity or official for damages | ||
allowed by that section. | ||
(b) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), this chapter does not | ||
waive or abolish sovereign immunity to suit and from liability | ||
under the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution. | ||
Sec. 45.008. EFFECT ON RIGHTS; CONSTRUCTION OF LAW. (a) | ||
This chapter may not be construed to authorize a governmental | ||
entity to burden a person's free exercise of religion. | ||
(b) The protections of religious freedom afforded by this | ||
chapter are in addition to the protections provided under federal | ||
or state law and the constitutions of this state and the United | ||
States. | ||
(c) This chapter may not be construed to supersede any law | ||
of this state that is equally as protective of religious beliefs as, | ||
or more protective of religious beliefs than, this chapter. | ||
(d) This chapter may not be considered to narrow the meaning | ||
or application of any other law protecting religious beliefs. | ||
(e) This chapter may not be construed to prevent law | ||
enforcement officers from exercising duties imposed on the officers | ||
under the Family Code and the Penal Code. | ||
(f) This chapter may not be construed to allow a child | ||
welfare services provider to decline to provide, facilitate, or | ||
refer a person for child welfare services on the basis of that | ||
person's race, ethnicity, or national origin. | ||
(g) This chapter may not be construed to allow a child | ||
welfare services provider to deprive a minor of the rights, | ||
including the right to medical care, provided by Chapters 32, 263, | ||
and 266, Family Code. | ||
(h) This chapter may not be construed to prohibit the | ||
department from obtaining necessary child welfare services from an | ||
alternate child welfare services provider. | ||
Sec. 45.009. INTERPRETATION. This chapter shall be | ||
liberally construed to effectuate its remedial and deterrent | ||
purposes. | ||
SECTION 2. 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. |