Relating to group home consultant referrals; creating a criminal offense.
Summary
SB 1137 revises Texas law governing certain group homes and adds new criminal penalties related to group home operations and referrals. The bill redesignates Chapter 769 of the Health and Safety Code as Chapter 767 and keeps the existing definition of a “group home” as a residence for three or more unrelated residents that provides supportive services such as meals, transportation, housekeeping, money management, laundry, and medication assistance, but not personal care services. It also preserves a list of exemptions for licensed facilities, hotels, retirement communities, monasteries or convents, child-care facilities, family violence shelters, and certain dormitories.
The bill requires group home owners or operators to obtain Texas Department of Public Safety criminal history record information for applicants and employees, and bars them from hiring or retaining individuals with convictions for a broad range of serious offenses, including many violent, sexual, property, drug, and exploitation-related crimes, as well as any Class A misdemeanor or felony. A violation of this hiring restriction is a Class A misdemeanor. The bill also creates a new offense for “group home consultants” — people who refer potential residents to specific group homes for compensation — and generally prohibits them from referring residents to unlicensed or unpermitted group homes, with limited exceptions when no licensed option exists in the region or the resident cannot afford licensed placement. Before making an allowed referral to an unlicensed home, the consultant must disclose any complaints of which they have actual knowledge; violating this section is a Class B misdemeanor.
Impact
SB 1137 amends the Health and Safety Code to impose new compliance duties on group home owners and operators, including criminal background screening and employment restrictions, and to regulate paid referral activity by consultants. It creates two new misdemeanor offenses, one for improper hiring/retention of disqualified employees and one for prohibited referrals to unlicensed or unpermitted group homes, thereby expanding state oversight of non-medical residential care settings and the intermediaries who place residents in them.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have received generally favorable support in the Senate, where it passed 30-1, and it ultimately passed the House by a narrower but still positive margin of 81-57 with three present not voting. The vote pattern suggests broad agreement that the bill addresses resident safety and accountability in group home placement, while also indicating meaningful concern in the House about the scope of the regulation and the criminal penalties imposed.
Contention
The main points of contention likely centered on the bill’s criminalization of referral practices and the breadth of the restrictions on unlicensed or unpermitted group homes. Supporters likely viewed the measure as a consumer-protection and safety bill aimed at preventing vulnerable residents from being placed in unsafe settings and ensuring that operators screen employees with criminal histories. Opponents likely objected to the new misdemeanor offense for consultants, the limits on referrals to unlicensed homes, and the potential burden on smaller or lower-cost housing options for people with limited means.