LOCAL AUTHORITY PLANNING FOR LOCAL SERVICE AREA.

(a) Each local intellectual and developmental disability authority shall develop a local service area plan to maximize the authority's services by using the best and most cost-effective means of using federal, state, and local resources to meet the needs of the local community according to the relative priority of those needs. Each local intellectual and developmental disability authority shall undertake to maximize federal funding.

(b) A local service area plan must be consistent with the purposes, goals, and policies stated in Section 531.001 and the department's long-range plan developed under Section 533A.032.

(c) The department and a local intellectual and developmental disability authority shall use the local authority's local service plan as the basis for contracts between the department and the local authority and for establishing the local authority's responsibility for achieving outcomes related to the needs and characteristics of the authority's local service area.

(d) In developing the local service area plan, the local intellectual and developmental disability authority shall:

(1) solicit information regarding community needs from:

(A) representatives of the local community;

(B) consumers of community-based intellectual disability services and members of the families of those consumers;

(C) consumers of services of state supported living centers, members of families of those consumers, and members of state supported living center volunteer services councils, if a state supported living center is located in the local service area of the local authority; and

(D) other interested persons; and

(2) consider:

(A) criteria for assuring accountability for, cost-effectiveness of, and relative value of service delivery options;

(B) goals to ensure a client with an intellectual disability is placed in the least restrictive environment appropriate to the person's care;

(C) opportunities for innovation to ensure that the local authority is communicating to all potential and incoming consumers about the availability of services of state supported living centers for persons with an intellectual disability in the local service area of the local authority;

(D) goals to divert consumers of services from the criminal justice system; and

(E) opportunities for innovation in services and service delivery.

(e) The department and the local intellectual and developmental disability authority by contract shall enter into a performance agreement that specifies required standard outcomes for the programs administered by the local authority. Performance related to the specified outcomes must be verifiable by the department. The performance agreement must include measures related to the outputs, costs, and units of service delivered. Information regarding the outputs, costs, and units of service delivered shall be recorded in the local authority's automated data systems, and reports regarding the outputs, costs, and units of service delivered shall be submitted to the department at least annually as provided by department rule.

(f) The department and the local intellectual and developmental disability authority shall provide an opportunity for community centers and advocacy groups to provide information or assistance in developing the specified performance outcomes under Subsection (e).