HBA-NRS S.B. 53 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisS.B. 53 By: Zaffirini Human Services 3/30/2001 Engrossed BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Current law requires the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (PRS) to obtain criminal history record information relating to certain people working, living, or having contact with a child in state care or a ward of the state. Senate Bill 53 expands the list of people for whom PRS can obtain a criminal history record including certain volunteers and people under investigation for the alleged abuse of a child. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS Senate Bill 53 amends the Government Code to require the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (PRS) to obtain criminal history record information (information) maintained by the Department of Public Safety (DPS) that relates to a person who is an owner, operator, employee of, an applicant for employment by, or an applicant for a license to operate a licensed, registered, certified, or listed child-care facility, child-placing agency, family home, or maternity home. The bill further requires the PRS to obtain information that relates to a person 14 years of age or older other than a child in the care of the child-care facility, family home, or maternity home. PRS is required to obtain information on an applicant selected, rather than all applicants, for a position with PRS the duties of which include direct delivery of protective services to children, elderly persons, or person with a disability. The bill requires PRS to obtain information on a registered volunteer with PRS, a person applying to provide in-home care for children in the care of PRS and other persons living with the children, and a person who is subject of a report PRS, rather than DPS, receives alleging that the person has abused, neglected, or exploited a child, an elderly person, or a person with a disability, provided that the report alleges the person has engaged in certain abusive conduct, and that the person who is the subject of the report is not also the victim of the alleged conduct. In addition, the bill entitles PRS to obtain information from DPS on a child who is related to a caretaker and who resides in a child-care facility, family home, or maternity home, any other person who has unsupervised access to a child in the care of such a facility, or a person providing or applying to provide in-home, adoptive, or foster care for children to the extent necessary to comply with the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children. S.B. 53 also entitles PRS to obtain information on an employee of PRS an applicant for a position with PRS, a volunteer or applicant volunteer with PRS regardless of the duties to be performed, PRS is entitled to obtain information on a relative of a child in the care of PRS to the extent necessary to comply with a health, social, educational, and genetic history report, a person living in the residence of a child who has allegedly been abused, neglected, or exploited, a contractor or the contractor's employee who delivers services to a ward of PRS under contract with the estate of the ward, a person seeking unsupervised visits with a ward of PRS, including a relative of the ward. Subject to existing state law, the bill provides that PRS is entitled to obtain through the Federal Bureau of Investigation or any criminal justice agency in the state information pertaining to a person PRS is required or entitled to obtain information about from DPS. The bill provides that PRS is not prohibited from releasing criminal history record information to certain persons responsible for the care or delegation of protective services for a child, or another person responsible for the care of a child, elderly person, person with a disability, or the person who is the subject of the information. The bill provides that the failure or refusal to provide a complete set of fingerprints or a complete name on request constitutes good cause for dismissal or refusal to hire, as applicable, with regard to a volunteer of or an employee or applicant for permanent or temporary employment with PRS rather than DPS, if the volunteer position, employment, or potential employment involves direct interaction with or the opportunity to act and associate with children. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.