Bill Text: TX SB1559 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to an interagency plan to promote competitive and integrated employment for persons with disabilities.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-03-23 - Referred to Natural Resources & Economic Development [SB1559 Detail]
Download: Texas-2015-SB1559-Introduced.html
| By: Zaffirini | S.B. No. 1559 | |
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| relating to an interagency plan to promote competitive and | ||
| integrated employment for persons with disabilities. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Chapter 121, Human Resources Code, is amended by | ||
| adding Section 121.012 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 121.012. INTERAGENCY PLAN FOR COMPETITIVE AND | ||
| INTEGRATED EMPLOYMENT OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES. (a) The | ||
| comptroller, the Texas Education Agency, the Texas Workforce | ||
| Commission, and the Health and Human Services Commission, in | ||
| consultation with the Texas Council on Purchasing from People with | ||
| Disabilities, shall work together to develop and implement an | ||
| interagency plan designed to transition persons with disabilities | ||
| out of environments in which persons with disabilities are | ||
| segregated and receive wages that are less than minimum wage and | ||
| into environments in which persons with disabilities receive | ||
| competitive wages in integrated employment settings. | ||
| (b) Notwithstanding any other law, the plan established | ||
| under this section must: | ||
| (1) establish a timeline as follows: | ||
| (A) not later than September 1, 2016: | ||
| (i) the Texas Education Agency shall adopt | ||
| a plan to prohibit the future use of state funds for services | ||
| provided by a local education agency in a environments in which | ||
| persons with disabilities are segregated and receive wages that are | ||
| less than minimum wage; and | ||
| (ii) the Comptroller shall adopt a plan to | ||
| use revenue from the set-aside purchasing program administered by | ||
| the Texas Council on Purchasing from People with Disabilities to | ||
| convert environments in which persons with disabilities are | ||
| segregated and receive wages that are less than minimum wage to | ||
| individualized and community-based employment opportunities | ||
| offering at least minimum wage; | ||
| (B) not later than September 1, 2017: | ||
| (i) each state agency shall ensure that all | ||
| agency employees, including contract employees under set-aside | ||
| contracts for persons with disabilities, receive minimum wage; and | ||
| (ii) the comptroller shall develop and | ||
| implement policies that identify and remove barriers for state | ||
| agencies to hire and retain persons with disabilities in integrated | ||
| work environments at competitive wages; and | ||
| (C) not later than September 1, 2022, the Health | ||
| and Human Services Commission shall adopt a plan to prohibit the use | ||
| of state funds for programs offered in environments in which | ||
| persons with disabilities are segregated and receive wages that are | ||
| less than minimum wages; | ||
| (2) require the Department of Assistive and | ||
| Rehabilitative Services to conduct outreach to persons with | ||
| disabilities in sheltered workshops to determine the services, | ||
| reasonable accommodations, or assistive technology needed to | ||
| increase the marketable job skills, productivity, and work options | ||
| for persons with disabilities; | ||
| (3) require the Texas Education Agency to implement a | ||
| plan that promotes community-based work skills, supports, and | ||
| employment options to students with disabilities who are at least | ||
| 14 years of age; | ||
| (4) establish financial assistance and incentives for | ||
| employers that convert settings in which persons with disabilities | ||
| are segregated and receive wages that are less than minimum wage | ||
| into supported or integrated employment opportunities offering | ||
| competitive wages; and | ||
| (5) require state agencies participating in the | ||
| implementation of the plan to collect data in a manner that provides | ||
| information that is useful in determining how to sustain, expand, | ||
| and improve employment opportunities supported by the plan. | ||
| SECTION 2. Not later than January 1, 2016, the agencies | ||
| described by Section 121.012, Human Resources Code, as added by | ||
| this Act, shall develop the interagency plan required by that | ||
| section. | ||
| SECTION 3. 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, 2015. | ||
