Rep. Coleman advocating for more HHSC offices, quick restoration of electricity, assistance with insurance issues

(Houston) – The past several days, Rep. Garnet Coleman has worked closely with human services officials to quicken the re-opening of the Health and Human Services Commission office at 6118 Scott. Because of Rep. Coleman's advocacy, the office opened this past Sunday, September 20. Rep. Coleman also advocated strongly for power to be restored to the Fuqua and Lockwood offices (the Fuqua office is now open and the Lockwood office should be opening soon).  More Houstonians can now replenish food lost in their refrigerator with assistance from the state and federal government.

"I've been in constant contact with state human services officials the past few days advocating for the opening of more offices in Houston. I am happy to report that state officials responded quickly and the office on Scott Street was opened several days ahead of schedule," said Representative Coleman.

Rep. Coleman has also been on the phone every day with Centerpoint since Saturday morning following the storm, advocating for a restoration of power to lower-income communities in District 147 and beyond. Rep. Coleman has worked to have power restored to nursing homes and senior centers without power in Houston.

"The power at my house is out, and the power at my mother's house is out," said Representative Coleman. "But it's more important to me that Centerpoint restores power for my constituents in need rather than for myself."

Rep. Coleman also said he is ready to assist with any insurance-related questions or issues that may arise for his constituents. The Texas Department of Insurance Consumer Help Line can provide assistance at 1-800-252-3439, or Rep. Coleman's district office is ready assist Houstonians with their needs at 713-520-5355.

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Needs More Top Tier Schools

Below is an editorial from today's Lubbock Avalanche-Journal on the need for more top-tier universities in Texas. You can read the Legislative Study Group recommendations on higher education cited in the editorial by clicking here and find the editorial at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal's website by clicking here.

Texas Tech should be tier-one school

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Story last updated at 10/7/2008 - 8:02 am

TEXAS NEEDS at least one more national research university, according to Bill Powers, president of the University of Texas-Austin, one of only two such tier one public higher education entities in the state.

Why not Texas Tech as the third tier-one school?

To qualify as tier one, a school needs to spend $100 million on research. Texas Tech needs $49 million to reach that threshold.
Texas A&M is the other tier-one public university. In contrast, California has nine national research universities, New York has eight.

After initial state contributions to the university as seed money, additional funding is drawn from federal and private grants.

Also, investment in research and development yields a 20 to 30 percent rate of return to the state in terms of jobs and economic stimulus, according to The Texas Legislative Study Group, a public policy group chaired by state Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston.

An investment of $188 million in state funds could bring four schools to tier-one status (Texas Tech, the University of Houston, the University of Texas-Dallas and the University of Texas-El Paso). An investment of $405 million could yield seven additional tier-one schools in Texas, bringing the total to nine.

Given a choice, students prefer to attend a university with a top-tier reputation, noted the LSG report. Instead of taking steps to curtail the number of students who are admitted to top-tier universities, the state should be taking steps to expand the number of top-tier universities, according to recommendations by Rep. Coleman's study group.

We are a rapidly growing state, and UT-Austin, A&M and Rice (a private tier one school) can't perform all the needed research, and they can't begin to accommodate all our young people who want to attend a national research university, as Mr. Powers points out.

Some 10,000 high school graduates are leaving Texas each year to attend doctoral degree-granting universities elsewhere, while only about 4,000 students from other states come to Texas to enroll at similar institutions, he says. "That's a potential brain drain of about 6,000 of our best and brightest students."

If the head Longhorn gets the concept, shouldn't everyone else?

Editorials represent the opinion of The Avalanche-Journal Editorial Board, which consists of Publisher Stephen A. Beasley, Editor Terry Greenberg, Editorial Page Editor Joe Hughes, editorial writer Joe Gulick, in addition to input provided by community advisory board members Adrienne Cozart, Anna Sterling and Irasema Velasquez.

Emergency Food Assistance and Mental Health Parity

Emergency Food Assistance

A lot of Texans lost food that spoiled in their refrigerators when they were without power due to Hurricane Ike. Two weeks ago my office started getting calls from constituents who had waited in line for hours at Health and Human Services offices to get food assistance, only to find they would receive just $10 for the month. I thought that needed to change and got on the phone with the Health and Human Services Commission. Based on inquiries I made, the Health and Human Services Commission increased food assistance benefits for thousands of Texans.

Below is an article from the Houston Chronicle on the subject, which you can read by clicking here.

Mental Health Parity

Just a few moments ago, the House of Representatives passed the financial bailout bill; attached to that bill is the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, authored by Patrick Kennedy in the House and Ted Kennedy in the Senate. The Mental Health Parity Act is landmark legislation that ends insurance discrimination against Americans with mental illness, providing Americans with employer-provided health care at mid-sized and large companies with the same coverage for mental illnesses as they get for physical ailments.

In 1997, I passed HB 1173, a state-level mental health parity bill that covers serious mental illnesses in Texas. Today, similar legislation has passed Congress and will be signed by the president to provide mental health coverage for all Americans. You can read an editorial in favor of the legislation from the New York Times by clicking here.

I promise to send you more updates on this subject and on food stamps as they develop.


Because of Ike, poor families getting more food stamp aid
By JANET ELLIOT
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
Oct. 1, 2008, 10:40PM

AUSTIN — Low-income families struggling to recover from Hurricane Ike will get higher-than-normal food stamp benefits this month, state officials said Wednesday.

The benefits increase is expected to help more than 240,000 families living in 29 Texas counties declared federal disaster areas.

The state requested federal approval for the extra food assistance in recognition that many families and individuals are having extra expenses related to the storm.

"Our offices have been seeing many low-income families who aren't currently receiving food stamps," Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Albert Hawkins said in a press release. "In many cases, these families lost food because of power outages or flooding, and they're also facing other financial pressures this month."

Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, raised the food stamp issue after talking to people who stood in line for hours to apply for benefits, and then received only $14 in food stamps for the month.

The amount of food assistance a person receives is based on family size and income.

Under the new policy, a single person with income of $870 this month will get $170, an increase of $156 over the standard allotment of $14. A family of three with an income of $1,143 will receive $451 in food stamps in October, an increase of $331 over the standard allotment of $120.