Rep. Coleman Files House Bill 1173 to Secure $17 Million for TSU

(Austin)//--State Representative Garnet F. Coleman (D-Houston) met with the newly appointed Advisory Committee for Texas Southern University in Houston on Wednesday, February 7 to talk about the history of the Legislature's role with Texas Southern University and to inform the committee about a bill he has filed to secure $17 million for TSU.

"The initial meeting of the committee went extremely well, and I'm confident that all of us are intensely devoted to keeping TSU strong and independent," Rep. Coleman said.

Rep. Coleman's bill, House Bill 1173, is a tuition revenue bond bill that re-allocates $17 million already authorized for use by Texas Southern University. The $17 million will pay for immediate deferred maintenance currently facing TSU.

"My bill is the first in many steps I am taking to correct the financial issues that were created by indicted TSU President Priscilla Slade and indicted Chief Financial Officer Quentin Wiggins," Rep. Coleman said. "I am doing everything in my power to ensure that Texas Southern University remains a strong and independent institution."

Texas Southern University is currently facing a $26 million budget shortfall. HB 1173 will cover $17 million of that $26 million budget shortfall.

Some of the remaining dollars could be covered by student fee legislation Rep. Coleman will file. However, the decision to raise student fees is made by the students at TSU. Rep. Coleman has already discussed such student fee legislation with officers of the student government association, and will be speaking at a town hall meeting with TSU students on Friday, February 16.

"The students are the ones most affected by all of these decisions," Rep. Coleman said. "They are an essential piece of this process because they are the ones directly affected by everything that happens there. They will make the final decision about how much their fees should be raised. My legislation merely would simply empower them to raise their fees.

I am working closely with the student body on this issue, and doing everything I can to ensure our students today, tomorrow, and for years to come can enjoy the strong, independent tradition of Texas Southern University."

Rep. Coleman: Timeline on Children's Health Insurance Program

(Austin)--State Representative Garnet F. Coleman (D-Houston) detailed the specific ways that the cuts made to the Children's Health Insurance Program in 2003 led to hundreds of thousands of children losing their health coverage. The cuts in 2003 came as a result of the passage of House Bill 2292, as well as limited budget funding for CHIP.

In 1999, Rep. Garnet Coleman authored House Bill 1696 and joint-sponsored Senate Bill 445 that created the CHIP program in Texas. The policies enacted in 1999 by Rep. Coleman and the Texas Legislature were cut by Rep. John Davis and others in 2003.

"It was the design of the Republican Leadership, including those who are trying to fix it now, to gut CHIP as much as possible," Rep. Coleman said. "I'm pleased they've joined the continued efforts of House Democrats to fully restore CHIP."

Rep. Coleman also noted that many House Democrats and Republicans that voted to cut CHIP have lost in recent primary and general elections.

"We should restore CHIP because it is good public policy, not because it is bad politically to oppose restoring CHIP," Rep. Coleman said.

The timeline below details how the policies enacted in CHIP led to hundreds of thousands of children losing health coverage (all enrollment figures are according to data provided by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission):

April 2003 - CHIP Enrollment: 508,176

• The Texas House passes House Bill 2292, which makes significant cuts to CHIP.

• Rep. Arlene Wohlgemuth, who authored HB 2292, says her measure "would not deny care but rather make more efficient use of money the state now spends." (Source: "Bill would boost sanctions for recipients of welfare," Dallas Morning News, April 11, 2003)

• The Austin-American Statesman reports that House Bill 2292 would "cut 200,000 children from the Children's Health Insurance Program." (Source: "House OKs reshaping of agencies," Austin-American Statesman, 4/26/03). Republicans knew at the time that they were gutting the CHIP program, though few admitted it.

September 2003 - CHIP Enrollment: 507,259

·         Changes to CHIP made in HB 2292 take effect.

March 2004 - CHIP Enrollment: 388,381

• Within six months of the new CHIP enrollment policies, 118,878 children have lost their health coverage.

September 2004 - CHIP Enrollment: 355,528

• After a year of the new CHIP enrollment policies, 151,731 children have lost their health coverage.

February 2005 - CHIP Enrollment: 330,393

• After almost 18 months of the new CHIP enrollment policies, 176,866 children have lost their health coverage.

• Accenture is awarded an $899 million contract for HHSC privatization, as instructed by HB 2292. The contract includes the overseeing of CHIP enrollment.

September 2006 - CHIP Enrollment: 291,530

• Three years after HB 2292 went into effect, 215,729 children have lost their health coverage.

Public testimony before House Appropriations on TSU

House Appropriations will be taking public testimony today on TSU after all the universities and colleges on the schedule (which you can read by clicking here) have appeared. I expect the committee will take public testimony sometime between 12pm-2pm.

I'll be sure to continue posting updates as I get them.

Advocates Ask $82.3 Million to Fund Mental Health Crisis Program

The state's leading mental health advocates are calling on House and Senate leaders to address the critical need for public mental health services by investing $82.3 million in proven crisis and crisis-avoidance services recommended by Texas experts and requested by the Texas Department of State Health Services.

“A broad and diverse group of organizations and individuals participated in the development of a plan to address the mental health crises needs of Texans in the public mental health system,” said Lynn Lasky Clark, president and CEO of Mental Health America of Texas. “The Crisis Services Redesign Workgroup made up of emergency room doctors, probate judges, law enforcement personnel, mental health professionals, people with mental health problems and others identified ways to better provide mental health crisis services in communities across the state.”

Texas Department of State Health Services data shows only 23% of the population in Texas potentially eligible for public mental health services—those with a serious mental illness or emotional disorder—actually receives help from the public mental health system.  

"Community Mental Health and Mental Retardation Centers are required by law to provide Texans mental health services, including crisis care.  Historically, however, the Texas Legislature has not allocated the funding necessary to provide the services that can treat the situation with the urgency required," said Representative Garnet Coleman (D-Houston).  “I call on my fellow lawmakers to begin improving this dire situation by fully funding this request.”     

Communities see the result of this lack of funding on a regular basis in emergency rooms, jails, and juvenile detention centers.  People experiencing mental health crises have died by suicide or homicide and police officers are taken off the street to transport people with mental illnesses to hospitals across the state because of a lack of available local mental health crisis services.  

“Many patients are inappropriately routed to emergency rooms that don’t have access to crisis services in the community,” says Laura Waltrip, M.D.  “I routinely see seriously ill mental health patients whose crises may be avoided with routine community mental health care.”

“Government resources can be used more wisely by providing less costly interventions before individuals go into crisis and by providing appropriate care for individuals in crises,” said Clark.  “Investing $82.3 million for mental health crisis care is a step in the right direction to providing critical care for those desperately in need.”

To see the Workgroup membership and its recommendations, go to www.dshs.state.tx.us/mhsacsr/default.shtm or click here to see a legislative flyer from Mental Health America of Texas.

Rep. Coleman: We Must End Tuition Deregulation in Texas

(Houston)//--State Representative Garnet F. Coleman (D-Houston) called for an end to tuition deregulation following the recent announcement by State Comptroller Susan Combs that the Texas Tomorrow Fund is facing a projected funding shortfall of $3.3 billion over the next twenty years.

"Families that have invested in the Texas Tomorrow Fund can no longer be guaranteed that the money they invested will be there when it is time for their children to go to college," Rep. Coleman said. "The projected shortfall in the Texas Tomorrow Fund large budget issue in the future puts our state in a serious fiscal crisis."

Since tuition deregulation was enacted in 2003, the average cost of tuition in Texas' 35 public colleges and universities has gone up by over 37%. The higher tuition rates have created the projected shortfalls in the Texas Tomorrow Fund. Rep. Coleman has drafted legislation that eliminates tuition deregulation in Texas.

"Tuition increases are pricing many students from middle class families out of the opportunity that can only be provided by a college education," Rep. Coleman said.
"We must immediately end tuition deregulation so we can make college affordable for all Texas families."

The Texas Tomorrow Fund was established in 1996. Parents set aside dollars in the Fund to pay for their children's future college tuition based on the cost of tuition today. However, enrollment in the Fund was closed off in 2003 when the state enacted tuition deregulation.

Previously, the state of Texas could project future costs of tuition because it was up to the Legislature to set tuition rates. However, when tuition deregulation was put into place, the state could no longer project the future cost of tuition. This uncertainty in future tuition rates led to the fiscal instability that exists today in the Texas Tomorrow Fund.

"Most Texans believe we should have a tomorrow,” Rep. Coleman said. "That's why we have a Texas Tomorrow Fund -- to help pay for higher education opportunities. We want to make sure there is a promise for tomorrow for all Texas families, and we can do that by freezing tuition and re-opening the doors of the Texas Tomorrow Fund to new families."

According to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, tuition has increased by 49% at the University of Houston, 39% at the University of Houston-Downtown, and 20% at Texas Southern University as a result of tuition deregulation.