Sec. 351.0022. TRANSITION PLAN. (a) In addition to the requirements under Section 531.0204, Government Code, the executive commissioner shall work with the executive director and the commissioner of assistive and rehabilitative services to ensure the transition plan under that section includes a plan for the transfer of vocational rehabilitation services and other services and programs from the department to the commission that ensures the transfer is accomplished in a careful and deliberative manner. Specifically, the transition plan must include:
(1) the specific steps and methods for the transfer or disposition of all obligations, rights, contracts, leases, records, property, and funds, including unexpended and unobligated appropriations, relating to the services and programs transferred from the department to the commission under this subtitle, including the plans for leased office or building space and the transition of data and information technology systems supporting the services and programs;
(2) the identification of all full-time equivalent employee positions that are associated with the department's administration of the services and programs to be transferred to the commission, including the full-time equivalent employee positions that are associated with the Health and Human Services Commission's administrative support of those transferring services and programs;
(3) measures to ensure that unnecessary disruption to the provision of transferred services and programs does not occur;
(4) a strategy for integrating the department's vocational rehabilitation staff into the commission's local workforce development boards and centers as required by Section 351.004;
(5) a strategy for integrating vocational rehabilitation programs for individuals with visual impairments and for individuals with other disabilities as required by Section 352.101;
(6) a schedule for implementing the transfer of the services and programs; and
(7) a strategy for exchanging data with other state agencies that refer clients for vocational rehabilitation services.
(b) To the extent allowed by federal law, public hearings held under Section 531.0204(c), Government Code, if appropriate, may be combined with other public hearings required under federal law in relation to the adoption of a state plan for vocational rehabilitation services.
(c) The plan for the transfer of vocational rehabilitation services and other services and programs required by this section must be included as part of the transition plan submitted to the Health and Human Services Transition Legislative Oversight Committee, the governor, and the Legislative Budget Board under Section 531.0204(e), Government Code, by the date prescribed by that subsection. In addition, the plan must be separately submitted to that committee and the governor as soon as practicable after September 1, 2015. The committee shall comment on the plan in conjunction with making comments on the transition plan as required by Section 531.0204(e), Government Code.
(d) If in making comments and recommendations on the transition plan under Section 531.0204(e), Government Code, the Health and Human Services Transition Legislative Oversight Committee has comments, concerns, or recommendations regarding the elements of the plan required by this section, the committee shall provide those comments, concerns, and recommendations to the executive director and the commissioner of assistive and rehabilitative services in addition to the executive commissioner. The executive director, the commissioner of assistive and rehabilitative services, and the executive commissioner may not finalize the plan required by this section until the comments, concerns, and recommendations of the committee specifically regarding that plan have been reviewed and considered.
(e) This section expires September 1, 2019.
Added by Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1138 (S.B. 208), Sec. 27(b), eff. September 1, 2015.
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