Sec. 451.6101. CONTINUATION OF SERVICES TO PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES; ALTERNATIVE PROGRAM. (a) This section applies only to an authority to which Subchapter C-1 applies.

(b) Notwithstanding Section 451.610, an authority shall establish an alternative program to provide transportation services to persons with disabilities in a withdrawn unit of election who are eligible to receive services under the program. An authority shall require interested persons with disabilities to apply to be program participants. The program must be available to a person with a disability who:

(1) resides, at the time of application to the program, in a withdrawn unit of election;

(2) can prove, at the time of application, residence in the corporate limits of the withdrawn unit of election as those limits existed at the time of the withdrawal and continuous residence in the corporate limits of the withdrawn unit of election since withdrawal;

(3) meets eligibility criteria established by the authority for demand-responsive transportation service for persons with disabilities and can prove, at the time of application, that the person has had the same disability since the unit of election withdrew; and

(4) applies to the program before January 1, 2012.

(c) The program must:

(1) include only transportation services that meet the requirements of all applicable federal laws, rules, or regulations; and

(2) include transportation services between the residence of a program participant and a destination within the authority's service area or a destination within the withdrawn unit of election where the person with a disability resides that is:

(A) the participant's place of work or a place where the participant is seeking employment;

(B) a physician's office;

(C) a pharmacy;

(D) the participant's place of voting;

(E) a grocery store within five miles of the participant's residence or within the withdrawn unit of election; or

(F) a government building.

(d) Subsection (c)(1) does not expand the service area or add to the destinations in Subsection (c)(2).

(e) The requirement for transportation services to a grocery store under Subsection (c)(2)(E) is for services once per week. The requirement for transportation services to a government building under Subsection (c)(2)(F) is for services twice per week.

(f) A withdrawn unit of election must reimburse the authority for the costs of all services in the manner provided by Section 451.616 unless otherwise agreed to in a memorandum of understanding between the authority and the withdrawn unit of election.

(g) A withdrawn unit of election that does not provide transportation services to a program participant in the withdrawn unit of election through a third-party service provider shall provide the participant with use of the authority's transportation services. If a withdrawn unit of election chooses to have a third-party service provider provide services under this subsection, the authority may, with the withdrawn unit's consent:

(1) provide necessary dispatch services; and

(2) ensure the provider receives payment from the withdrawn unit of election.

(h) An individual may not receive transportation services under the program and subsequently receive transportation services under Section 451.610.

(i) A person who ceases to reside in the withdrawn unit of election may not continue as a program participant.

(j) This section and any program established under this section expire on January 1, 2020.

Added by Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 1327 (S.B. 650), Sec. 3, eff. June 17, 2011.