ARLINGTON, Texas — Enhanced background check requirements and a new ability to suspend troubled caretakers, both aimed at making group homes safer for Texans with intellectual disabilities, are now law.
The measures, inspired by WFAA’s “Disabled in Danger” series, were authored by State Rep. Chris Turner (D-Arlington). Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed them into law Monday, and both take effect Sept. 1, 2023.
Turner introduced those two measures, and as well as two others, largely in response to WFAA’s series, which began in 2018 and highlighted problems with oversight of taxpayer-funded group and host homes.
