The 82nd Regular Legislative Session came to an end yesterday. This was easily the most devastating session of which I’ve been a part. The Republican supermajority passed a budget and several policies that betray Texans. Instead of improving public schools, Republicans wasted time on legislation meant to impede a woman’s choice and to suppress voters.
Even with a supermajority, Republicans couldn’t pass a bill to adequately fund our children’s schools. They drafted an inequitable school finance formula, which determines how much money goes to our children in schools, forcing us to a special session to address school finance. Texans will feel the devastating consequences of the poor policy choices made by those in charge.
Below I’ve included some of the major policies passed this session that could adversely affect Texans. In the darkness, there were a few bright moments.
Misses of the 82nd Legislature:
- Budget – The 82nd Legislature passed a budget that cut $18.3 billion from current state services. HB 1 failed to fund growth of enrollment in public education, Colleges and Universities, Community Colleges and Junior Colleges, or caseload growth in Medicaid or the Department of family Protective Services. HB 1 didn’t fix the $10 billion structural deficit created in 2006, which means we are likely to have to face the same budget problems in the next biennium.
- Nursing Homes – Medicaid nursing home funding is cut by 37% from FY 2010-11 levels, leaving it over $1.6 billion shy of the requested amount for enrollment growth and cost increases.
- Public Schools – $4 billion cut from public schools for Texas children.
- Decreased Financial Aid – 43,000 fewer students will receive state aid, including 29,000+ fewer receiving TEXAS Grants. The remaining 14,000 students will not receive student aid as a result to cuts to the TANF Scholarship Program, College Readiness Grants, Texas Career Opportunity Grants, and Hospital-Based Nursing Education Grants.
- Medicaid – The legislature failed to fund 4.8 billion in Medicaid services, which children, elderly, pregnant women and individuals with disabilities rely on to access health care.
- Government Imposed Sonograms - The legislature passed a bill that will force doctors to perform a vaginal sonogram on a woman electing to terminate a pregnancy. This places government between a woman and her doctor and impedes a woman’s choice.
- Voter Suppression Legislation – Requiring voters to present a photo identification at the ballot box will place an obstacle between Texans and the ballot box and could disenfranchise women, seniors, individuals with disabilities, communities of color, and low income Texans.
- Retrogressive Redistricting Map – Although 89 percent of the population growth in Texas over the last decade was non-Anglo, the House redistricting map reduces the number of districts where a voter who is protected under the Voting Rights Act can elect his or her candidate of choice.
Hits of the 82nd Legislature:
- Direct Employment of Physicians – The legislature passed a bill that will allow hospitals in rural Texas to hire doctors directly, helping to ensure that these hospitals continue to exist. Rural hospitals will be able to bring quality physicians into the community, save physicians the cost of opening a practice, and increase access to quality care for the Texans who live in rural communities.
- Bill Diminishing Quality of a Public Education Failed – The House of Representatives on procedural points stopped legislation that would have eliminated the 22:1 maximum student-teacher ratio for K-4 classes, eliminated minimum salary guarantees for classroom teachers, and would have allowed a district to inform an employee that they are being fired on the last day of school.
- Prohibition of "Sanctuary Cities" Failed – The Senate did not have the necessary votes to bring up a bill to end so called sanctuary cities, which the Governor dubbed one of his emergency priorities. This bill would have prevented local communities from enacting the policies they feel are best to keep their communities safe, and could have led to racial profiling.
- Texting While Driving – The legislature passed a ban on texting while driving, an unnecessary distraction that can lead to an accident which can cause death.
- Pay day reform – The legislature passed legislation to safeguard consumers by requiring payday lenders to disclose interest rates and fees associated with the loans.
- Human trafficking – The legislature passed legislation to crack down on human traffickers by creating harsher penalties and stronger parole requirements for individuals who are found guilty of this heinous crime.
- Access to Justice– Individuals who have been convicted of crimes will have better access to post-conviction DNA testing, which has exonerated 40 inmates in recent years.