Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Friday March 13 marked the deadline for bills to be introduced in the 84th Texas Legislature. TexProtects the Texas Association for the Protection of Children is pleased to announce three bills that it supports in the fight to prevent and end child abuse and child abuse deaths in Texas.
These three bills in addition to the investments yet to be made in evidence-based prevention programs will accomplish great things in the prevention of child abuse in Texas" said TexProtects CEO Madeline McClure. Whether leveraging state funds with private funding ensuring accurate data compilation to forecast and target prevention services or stronger criminal penalties all three bills will provide important tools to make lives better for children and reduce the staggering social and financial costs that child abuse neglect and child fatalities impose upon our state."
Senate Bill 949 - Child Fatality Reports
Senate Bill 949 by Senator Carlos Uresti of San Antonio should improve the reporting of key facts regarding child fatalities in order to help prevent future child deaths. For instance when it is determined that a fatality was caused by abuse and neglect DFPS will produce information regarding the circumstances of the death any prior CPS history with the family and any services that were offered to the family.
DFPS will also produce an annual report regarding all fatality investigations regardless of disposition completed in the preceding year. The report will provide the number of investigations in which prior CPS history was present and will also provide any trends by area or type of death to serve as a geographic map for concentrating certain types of prevention programs investment.
House Bill 3014 - Pay for Success aka Social Impact Bond contracts
House Bill 3014 by Tan Parker of Flower Mound allows the state to enter into a Social Impact Bond (SIB) contract between the end of this year and January 2017. SIBs leverage government dollars with private funds to bring effective programs to scale.
First government identifies a social problem and then finds investors to finance a project to tackle it. If certain targets are met resulting in savings to the state the investors are paid according to the terms of the contract.
HB 3014 establishes the trust fund to pay out such contracts. Please find TexProtects brief on the SIB here and more background on Pay-For-Success from our Pay for Success Convening here.
Early childhood and home visiting programs are likely to be effective targets for social impact financing due to the cost avoidance of remedial education and the improvement of costly birth outcomes and the quickness with which these returns can be realized - in some cases within days of a childs birth.
Senate Bill 1418 - Increasing the penalty for injury to a child
Senate Bill 1418 by Senator Van Taylor of Plano would increase the minimum penalty for child abuse fatalities and/or causing injury to a child from five years imprisonment to 10 years imprisonment if the action was committed intentionally or knowingly. Also the bill would remove eligibility for probation. Similar legislation HB 3977 has been filed by Representative Dawnna Dukes.
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Friday March 13 marked the deadline for bills to be introduced in the 84th Texas Legislature. TexProtects the Texas Association for the Protection of Children is pleased to announce three bills that it supports in the fight to prevent and end child abuse and child abuse deaths in Texas.
These three bills in addition to the investments yet to be made in evidence-based prevention programs will accomplish great things in the prevention of child abuse in Texas" said TexProtects CEO Madeline McClure. Whether leveraging state funds with private funding ensuring accurate data compilation to forecast and target prevention services or stronger criminal penalties all three bills will provide important tools to make lives better for children and reduce the staggering social and financial costs that child abuse neglect and child fatalities impose upon our state."
Senate Bill 949 - Child Fatality Reports
Senate Bill 949 by Senator Carlos Uresti of San Antonio should improve the reporting of key facts regarding child fatalities in order to help prevent future child deaths. For instance when it is determined that a fatality was caused by abuse and neglect DFPS will produce information regarding the circumstances of the death any prior CPS history with the family and any services that were offered to the family.
DFPS will also produce an annual report regarding all fatality investigations regardless of disposition completed in the preceding year. The report will provide the number of investigations in which prior CPS history was present and will also provide any trends by area or type of death to serve as a geographic map for concentrating certain types of prevention programs investment.
House Bill 3014 - Pay for Success aka Social Impact Bond contracts
House Bill 3014 by Tan Parker of Flower Mound allows the state to enter into a Social Impact Bond (SIB) contract between the end of this year and January 2017. SIBs leverage government dollars with private funds to bring effective programs to scale.
First government identifies a social problem and then finds investors to finance a project to tackle it. If certain targets are met resulting in savings to the state the investors are paid according to the terms of the contract.
HB 3014 establishes the trust fund to pay out such contracts. Please find TexProtects brief on the SIB here and more background on Pay-For-Success from our Pay for Success Convening here.
Early childhood and home visiting programs are likely to be effective targets for social impact financing due to the cost avoidance of remedial education and the improvement of costly birth outcomes and the quickness with which these returns can be realized - in some cases within days of a childs birth.
Senate Bill 1418 - Increasing the penalty for injury to a child
Senate Bill 1418 by Senator Van Taylor of Plano would increase the minimum penalty for child abuse fatalities and/or causing injury to a child from five years imprisonment to 10 years imprisonment if the action was committed intentionally or knowingly. Also the bill would remove eligibility for probation. Similar legislation HB 3977 has been filed by Representative Dawnna Dukes.
