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3 Document(s) [ Subject: Parents ]

Committee: Senate Jurisprudence
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Report to the 82nd Legislature
Subjects: Adult Protective Services | Aging and Disability Services, Texas Department of | At-risk youth | Child custody | Consumer credit and debt | Credit service organizations | Guardianship | Parents | Personally identifiable information |
Library Call Number: L1836.81 J979
Session: 81st R.S. (2009)
Online version: View report [36 pages  File size: 932 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Study the effectiveness of current regulation and practices of debt management providers in Texas, including credit service organizations, and assess the extent to which individuals' estates are protected in transactions with debt management providers. Make recommendations to enhance protections.
2. Study the guardianship program implemented by the Department of Aging and Disabilities and the Department of Adult Protective Services, including the efficiency and effectiveness of the program, the relationship between the two agencies, the appropriate rights for parents, and whether clients and their assets are adequately protected.
3. Study and make recommendations to promote and enable confidential information sharing among state agencies and courts serving at-risk children and youth to ensure that comprehensive and appropriate services are being provided. The study should focus on the technological, legal, and fiscal barriers that prevent information sharing among these entities regarding affected children and youth.
4. Evaluate the voluntary relative placement process in issues of guardianship and the ability of nonparent relatives to make decisions for children under their care. Monitor the progress and implementation of SB 1598 relating to an agreement authorizing a nonparent relative of a child to make certain decisions regarding the child.
5. Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on Jurisprudence, 81st Legislature, Regular and Called Sessions, and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/or complete implementation.
Committee: House Public Health
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: House Committee on Public Health, Texas House of Representatives interim report, 2010 : a report to the House of Representatives, 82nd Texas Legislature
Subjects: Diet and nutrition | Emergency management | Employees Retirement System of Texas | Food safety | H1N1 virus | Health care | Health care costs | Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome | Influenza | Medicaid | Obesity | Parents | Teacher Retirement System of Texas |
Library Call Number: L1836.81 H349h
Session: 81st R.S. (2009)
Online version: View report [84 pages  File size: 854 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Monitor implementation of legislation intended to curb rising obesity rates in Texas. Study and make recommendations regarding better coordination of prevention efforts and evidence-based strategies to reduce the impact of obesity on health care costs. Include recommendations related to the use of federal stimulus funds targeted toward obesity prevention.
2. Study the state's ability to respond to the H1N1 virus. Examine issues related to vaccine and antiviral distribution and capacity, disease surveillance, communication with providers and the public, intergovernmental cooperation, and medical surge capability.
3. Determine how the state can best coordinate efforts to streamline health care delivery with health information technology (HIT). Identify areas in state law that affect the adoption and use of HIT. Recommend statutory changes as necessary.
4. Identify factors influencing health care cost trends in Texas, including practices or policies that may contribute to regional variations. Investigate medical imaging utilization and its impact on the cost and quality of health care. Recommend policy changes to promote best practices, reduce costs, and improve quality within the state Medicaid program, Employees Retirement System, and Teacher Retirement System. Joint Interim Charge with House Committee on Appropriations
5. Examine the need for and barriers to implementing routine HIV screenings as recommended in 2006 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Assess the impact of implementation on HIV transmission, health outcomes, clinical progression, and mortality.
6. Pursuant to HB 1672, 81st R.S., Section 4, study the policies and procedures related to the disclosure required by Chapter 33, Health and Safety Code, to the parent, managing conservator, or guardian of a newborn child.
7. Identify any gaps in Texas laws that may prevent coordinated efforts, both statewide and on the border, to ensure a safe food supply. Joint Interim Charge with House Committee on Border and Intergovernmental Affairs
8. Monitor the agencies and programs under the committee's jurisdiction.
Committee: Senate Jurisprudence
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Senate Committee on Jurisprudence interim report
Subjects: Adoption | Air pollution control technology | Child abuse | Child custody | Children's Advocacy Centers | Extraterritorial jurisdiction | Grandparents | Houston, Texas | Judges | Juries | Medical records | Occupational licenses | Parents | Private investigators | Probate courts | Records management | Rules of evidence | Texas Code of Criminal Procedure | Visitation rights |
Library Call Number: L1836.80 J979
Session: 80th R.S. (2007)
Online version: View report [161 pages  File size: 5,386 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Study the laws governing suits affecting the parent-child relationship involving non-parents, including suits for possession of or access to a child by a grandparent, and make recommendations for providing the best care and protection for the children involved. Provide an assessment of the constitutional issues involved with these suits.
2. Study the management and storage of adoption records, including the costs and benefits of converting records into digital format. Study ways to increase access by adopted persons and their children and spouses to important family medical history information and ensure that medical history information is updated, while maintaining privacy and anonymity of records.
3. Examine the role of heir finders in Texas and make recommendations regarding professional standards and fees for heir finders.
4. Identify and study best practices for representation of children in child abuse and neglect cases and determine whether to implement further training, oversight, or other requirements for judges, attorneys, and others responsible for child abuse and neglect cases, including child sexual abuse cases. Develop and implement tools for children’s advocacy centers (CACs) and prosecutors to successfully investigate and prosecute child abusers. Include the following:
  • Explore changes to the rules of evidence that could facilitate the presentation of child testimony in court;
  • Explore making prior extraneous sex offenses admissible during determination of guilt, as has been adopted in the federal court system; and
  • Explore possible expansion of the rules regarding how cases are consolidated and punishments are stacked in a single trial involving a crime committed against a child.
5. Study practices intended to enhance the jury experience and increase jury participation, including:
  • allowing jurors to ask questions of witnesses by submitting them to the judge in writing;
  • allowing lawyers to periodically summarize testimony for the jury;
  • allowing jurors to take notes during trial; and
  • allowing jurors to discuss evidence among themselves during trial.
6. Study and make recommendations relating to the jurisdiction, authority, power and discretion of probate judges in Texas, including the authority of a probate judge to intervene in a non-probate case.
7. Study administrative and legal procedures used by municipalities to exert regulatory authority beyond city limits and extraterritorial jurisdiction. Determine whether conflicts exist with agencies' regulatory authority and regulatory authority delegated to home-rule municipalities, and make recommendations for appropriate delegation and clarification of respective authorities.
8. Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Jurisprudence Committee, 80th R.S., and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/or complete implementation.

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