Weekly Summary
The halls of the Capitol were abuzz with talk about Medicaid this week. On Thursday, HB 10 passed the House unanimously, paying a $4.5 billion emergency Medicaid balance. The legislation also gives the Foundations School Program $630 million.
HB 10 was relatively painless for the House to pass but the same can’t be said for Medicaid expansion. Gov. Perry and other top state leaders continue to oppose it. Bills have been filed to allow local medical and public health authorities to bypass state approval. Major county hospitals, medical administrators, and health policy experts warn that millions could be left without health care coverage if Texas doesn’t act fast.
Supporters point out that even Florida has signed on to Medicaid expansion despite their governor initially rejecting the idea. Also at stake: local tax collections could be boosted by $2.1 billion if Medicaid is expanded, federal spending connected with Medicaid expansion is expected to generate $11.8 million in new local tax revenue from 2014 through 2017. See how it would impact your House and Senate district.
Health and Human Services Chairwoman Sen. Jane Nelson is leading the charge against Medicaid fraud. SB 8 was voted out of committee and has a positive fiscal note of $14.7 million. Nelson said that the state would reap much more in savings as Texas cracks down on the “epidemic of Medicaid fraud.”
Education watchers also had a fast paced week as graduation requirements become a central component of overhauling our current public school system. Measures have been introduced by Rep. Aycock, Sen. Dan Patrick, Rep. Diane Patrick, and Sen. Kel Seliger to move away from the 4×4 curriculum and to focus on career readiness.
Sen. Patrick seeks to expand charter schools in Texas. His latest bill, SB 2, would mandate that districts let unused property be leased to charter schools. The bill creates a Charter School Authorizing Authority to oversee charter schools. Another provision would eliminate the cap on the number of charter schools in Texas. The cap is currently 215.
News of the Week
After Florida Medicaid Reversal, Hints of Compromise in Texas
Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced on Wednesday that he would accept an expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The decision leaves Texas as the last big-state holdout.
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Senator pleads for more charter schools
Sen. Dan Patrick made a dramatic appeal Thursday to expand charter schools in Texas, arguing that those who oppose them are condemning students and parents to waiting lists long enough to make them cry.
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Senate unanimously confirms nominations
With no discussion, the Texas Senate on Wednesday unanimously confirmed the nominations of State Board of Education Chair Barbara Cargill, Secretary of State John Thomas Steen and others as recommended earlier this week.
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Texas House plugs Medicaid funding hole
The Texas House on Thursday approved a bill that would pay a $4.5 billion Medicaid IOU the Legislature wracked up last session to avoid deeper spending cuts.
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Medicaid Expansion Confounds Conservatives
The federal government is offering to pay all of the costs of expanding the Medicaid program to some of the state’s uninsured population for three years, then to pay 90 percent of the costs for several years after that. Texas could, according to a report commissioned by Texas Impact, an interfaith public policy group, spend $15 billion over the next 10 years and pull down $100 billion in federal funds as a result.
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Senate Panel Backs Bill That Targets Medicaid Fraud
Senate Bill 8 will “reduce the epidemic levels of fraud waste and abuse that are plaguing our health and human services,” said Sen. Jane Nelson. She added that “no amount of fraud is tolerable, but given our recent budget challenges it is inexcusable” that the Office of Inspector General has identified more than $6 billion in fraud from 2004 to 2011 tied to Medicaid, the state health program for poor residents.
Amid Anti-Testing Furor, a Focus on High School Courses
As the Legislature tackles such reform, attention has also focused on another area of education policy: high school graduation requirements.
Senate bill would allow charter schools to multiply
Patrick’s sweeping legislation, filed Monday, would lift restrictions on the expansion of charter schools, which are privately managed schools that receive public dollars. State law currently caps the number of charter operators at 215.
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Reducing School Tests Draws Support in Hearing
Students, parents and educators overwhelmingly spoke in support of state Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock‘s HB 5, arguing that the current system forces teachers to teach to the test and stifles flexibility to provide career-orientated courses.
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Texas Senators Slam State’s Testing Regime
State senators took turns publicly condemning Texas’ student assessment system — the implementation of which one lawmaker called a “colossal failure” — at a Tuesday Education Committee meeting.
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Join Us For a Conversation on the Fracking Boom and the Texas Legislature
We’ll talk about how the historic increase in drilling has impacted different parts of the state and what role lawmakers could play in regulating the rapid increase in drilling. The panel will feature State Senators Rodney Ellis and Carlos Uresti and State Representative Phil King, moderated by Mose Buchele of StateImpact Texas.
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Andre Thomas: Services Scarce for Troubled Youths
In Texas, there are few mechanisms in place to identify and treat youths who suffer from mental illness, particularly in rural communities. Texas has long ranked last in the amount it spends per capita on mental health care, and fewer than one-third of children identified as having severe emotional disturbances received treatment through community health services.
John Wiley Price objects to slow pace of Parkland Hospital CEO selection
Fourteen months after Dr. Ron Anderson stepped down as chief executive officer of Parkland Memorial Hospital, its board of managers is still not close to naming a permanent replacement.
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Senate committee passes high school diploma bill
The measure calls on all students to get at least 26 credits to graduate and most students would be able to take more elective courses. Patrick said he wants to give high school students more options in choosing coursework and also wants to give all students a pathway to a college education.
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Guest Column: Why Texas Should Expand Medicaid
State leaders can improve public health and our economy by working collaboratively with others to create a Texas plan that will improve the Medicaid delivery system and bring expansion dollars to Texas.
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Legislators should focus on quality teaching
There’s no magic education fix, but clearly, strong teachers matter. A recent Gates Foundation report revealed that quality instructors can turn around struggling students, no matter their previous failures. The Texas Teaching Commission, a project of Educate Texas, has recommendations for how Texas can improve its teacher pipeline.
Bill to raise the smoking age stalls because of fiscal note
A Texas Senate panel on Tuesday discussed but took no vote on a bill that would raise to 21 the minimum age for buying or possessing tobacco products.
Texas’ other major transportation funding challenge: fixing roads damaged by oil and gas development
Thanks to one of the Texas’ biggest economic boons, there’s another massive transportation funding issue looming large: how to pay for road damage caused by the tremendous growth in the state’s oil and gas industry.
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Herman: An extraordinary day in the Texas Senate
To recognize extraordinary in the Texas Senate, you have to recognize ordinary. Ordinary, to the extent possible, keeps friction behind closed doors. Extraordinary happened Monday when senators very publicly circled the bipartisan wagons around embattled University of Texas President Bill Powers.
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State Government Hoarding, Not Spending Clean-Air Money
Every year, Texans pay millions in fees to help fund the state’s two major clean-air programs. Currently, funds total $632 million. Yet very little of that money actually goes to reduce smog in Texas’ big cities.
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Strama announces his departure from the Texas House
After almost a decade in the Texas House, Strama announced Wednesday that he and his wife decided a while ago this will be his farewell session in the sometimes fulfilling, often irritating Legislature.
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Herman: A concealed handgun license holder walks into the Capitol …
Rep. Jonathan Strickland has filed a bill that impacts CHL holders who enter the Capitol.
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Prisoners collecting millions in unemployment while behind bars
But after we found more than 1,700 cases of inmates collecting unemployment, some want to know if anyone is really watching the system?
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