No. CS/HB 287
Filed under Healthcare.
Pub. Rec./Applicants, Owners, and Operators of Family Foster Homes and References of Such Persons; Provides confidentiality & exemption from public records requirements for personal identifying & location information of applicants for family foster homes & current & former owners & operators of family foster homes, & names & personal identifying & location information of spouses, children, & other adult household members of such applicants, owners, or operators; provides confidentiality & exemption from public records requirements for personal identifying & location information of character or neighbor references of family foster home applicant or current or former owner or operator of family foster home; provides for future legislative review & repeal of exemption; provides statement of public necessity.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDAnyone applying to become a family foster home, and anyone who currently or formerly owns or operates one, gets stronger protection for personal details like their address, birth date, medical records, home floor plan, and photographs.
This information used to become public five years after an unsuccessful application, or five years after a foster license lapsed. That automatic countdown to disclosure is gone; the records now stay confidential and exempt with no expiration.
The same stronger, permanent protection now covers the names, addresses, and phone numbers of a foster-home applicant's or operator's character and neighbor references, not just the applicants and operators themselves.
This new exemption is not permanent by default: it automatically expires on October 2, 2031, unless the Legislature reviews it and votes to keep it in place.
AIPersonal identifying and location information about a family foster home applicant, and about that applicant's spouse, children, and other adult household members, moves from merely exempt from public disclosure to confidential and exempt -- a stronger status that more tightly limits who it can be shared with.
AIAn unsuccessful foster-home applicant's protected information no longer automatically becomes a public record five years after they applied. That entire countdown-to-disclosure rule is deleted, so confidentiality now has no expiration for an applicant who is never licensed.
AIThe same confidential-and-exempt status, with no time limit, now extends to a current or former owner or operator of a family foster home -- not only someone still holding an active foster-care license -- along with their spouse, children, and household members.
AIThe name, address, and phone number of a person who gives a character or neighbor reference for a family foster home applicant or a current or former owner or operator becomes confidential and exempt, not merely exempt as before, and now covers references for former owners and operators too.
AIThis entire confidentiality subsection is subject to the Open Government Sunset Review Act and will repeal itself on October 2, 2031, unless the Legislature reviews it and reenacts it to keep it in force.